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BOAT SAILING, 

FAIR WEATHER AND FOUL 



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OUTING LIBRARY OF SPORT. 



Boat Sailing 



IN 



FAIR WEATHER AND FOUL. 



BY 

CAPTAIN A. J- KENEALY. 



"Man made him a boat of a hollow tree, 
And thus became lord of the bounding sea.' 



. .T 0^ udt 




SECOXD EDITION. 



.V. 34/ 



> 4 ^'' 



t^^lTh ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS. 



OUTING PUBLISHING CO. 

NEW YORK. LONDON. 



QrVXM 



Copyrighted by B. J. Worman, 1896. 

NEW YORK. 



PREFACE. 

Ever since I was high enough to look 
over the gunwale of a skiff I have been 
a devoted lover of the water. My first 
experience as a navigator was as the 
bold skipper of a raft consisting of three 
timbers lashed together, more or less 
securely, with a sheet fresh from the 
linen chest ingeniously spread as a sail. 
No doubt I felt as happy as the prime- 
val savage with a hollow tree for a ship 
and a skin of some wild beast extended 
to catch the favoring breeze. Since 
that eventful period I have had not a 
little experience with boats, their rig- 
ging, their equipment and their sailing. 
If any of this knowledge can be of 
practical use to the amateur boat sailer 
or yachtsman, the object of this work 
will have been achieved and the desire 
of the author gratified. 

A. J. Kenealy. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Preliminary Hints to an Amateur with Ambitions 
Toward Owning a Boat— Why He Ought to Join 
a Yacht Club— Handiness of the Cat-Rig 15 

CHAPTER II. 

The Choice of a Boat— Advantages of Stationary 
Ballast and a Centerboard— How to Avoid Being 
"■ Done " in a Boat Trade— Bargains at the Navy 
Yard— The Way to Cure a "Nail-Sick'' Craft... aa 

CHAPTER III. 

Trial Spin in a Cat-Boat— How to Get Under Way, 
Beat to Windward and Run Back, with Instruc- 
tions How to Act if Caught in a Squall or 
Stranded on a Shoal, and How to Avoid Col- 
lisions and Come to Anchor 28 

CHAPTER IV. 

Advantages of the Yawl-Rig for General Cruising 
Purposes, especially when *' Single Handed," 
with a Description of a Representative Craft — 
Disadvantages of the Ballast Fin for All Pur- 
poses Except Racing— The Fin in Model Yacht- 
ing Years Ago 37 

CHAPTER V. 

Keep Your Weather-Eye Open All the Time When 
Afloat— How to Handle a Boat in Heavy Weather 
or a vSummer Squall — The Use of the Sea Anchor 
in Riding Out a Gale, and How Shipwreck May 
Be Avoided by tiie Judicious Use of Oil 55 

CHAPTER VI. 

Fitting Out for a Cruise -Hints on Equipping and 
Provisioning a Boat so as to be Prepared for All 
Emergencies— A Sailor's vSolution of the Culinary 
Problem — Hot " Grub "" in a Gale 77 

CHAPTER VII. 

Combination Rowing and Sailing Boats— The Jib 
and Mainsail, Sprit, Leg-of-Mutton, Cat, Balance 
Lug and Sliding Gunter-Rigs— The Folding 
Centerboard 9° 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Rigging and Sails, with Some Impartial Remarks 
on the Lanyard and the Deadeye, as Opposed to 
the Turnbuckle— Standing and Running Gear, 
and the Bending and Setting of Canvas 105 

CHAPTER IX. 

Laying Up for the Winter — Practical Suggestions 
for Protecting a Boat and Her Gear from the 
Stress of Our Inclement Climate— A Plea for 
Trust-worthy Skippers and Engineers 118 

CHAPTER X. 

Useful Hints and Recipes, with Some Remarks on 
the Buying of a Binocular Marine Glass, from the 
" Brain-Pan " of a Practical Sailor 125 

CHAPTER XL 

The Rule of the Road at Sea: Being a Digest of the 
Present International Regulations for Preventing 
Collisions on Oceans and in Harbors • • • • 133 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Mariner's Compass, with Remarks on Devia- 
tion, Variation, Leeway, etc 140 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Charts, with Some Hints as to Navigation by Dead- 
reckoning— Lead, Log, and Lookout 151 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Marlinespike Seamanship: Being Practical Instruc- 
tions in the Art of Making the Splices, Knots, and 
Bends in Ordinary Use 155 

CHAPTER XV. 

Weather Wrinkles from the Scientific Point of View 
of Professional Meteorologists and also Jack 
Tar 165 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Nautical Terms in Common Use, from which all 
Obsolete and Antiquated Terms, such as were in 
use aboard the Ark, have been eliminated 171 



ILLUSTRATIONS AND DIAGRAMS. 



Frontispiece. The Champlain^ 

Yawl in a Squall, - - - 

Latest Type of Fin-Keel, 

Sail Plan of Modern Fin-Keel, 

Drogue, or Sea Anchor, 

Diagram of Floating Anchor, 

Floating Anchor in Use, 

The Dilemma, ... 

Plan of Oil Distributor, - - - 

Pleasant Cat-Boat Sailing, 

Whip Purchase and Traveler, 

Jib and Mainsail Rig, 

Sprit Rig, .... 

Leg-of-Mutton Rig, - 

Cat-Rig, - - . . 

Balance Lug Rig, 

Sliding Gunter Rig, - . - 

Detail of Sliding Gunter Rig, 

Folding Centerboard, - - - 

Shroud, Deadeye, Lanyard, - 

Turnbuckle, . . - - 

Topmast Rigging, 

Rig of Running Bowsprit, 

Horse for- Main Sheet, 

Gear for Hauling Out Loose-footed Mainsail 

Luncheon in the Cockpit, 

Scowing an Anchor, - - . 

The Compass, 

Marlinespike, - - • • 

Knots and Splices, 

Cautionary Signals, 

Storm Signals, 

The Sloop Yacl-t, 

The Cutter Yacr.t, - 



Page. 

41 

49 
54 
60 
61 
62 

65 
70 
81 
go 
91 
93 
97 

- 98 

ICX3 
lOT 
102 
104 
106 
107 
108 
lOQ 
III 

- 116 
129 
130 
141 

- 155 
156 
169 
X70 

- 181 
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ADVICE TO AN AMATEUR. 



LL of us remember the 
old sailor's retort to the 
man who reproached 
him for soaking his clay 
in bad rum. "There 
ain't such a thing under 
heaven as bad rum," he 
sagely remarked. " Of 
course some rum is better than 
another, but I have been knock- 
ing about the world for more 
than fifty years and never did I drink a 
glass of rum that deserved to be called 
bad^ and I have got outside of some 
pretty fiery tipple in my time." 

The same is true in a general way of 
boats. There are many types of boat 
and each has some peculiar attribute to 
recommend it. No two craft, for in- 
stance, could be more widely different 
in every way than a Gloucester fishing 
dory and a Cape Cod cat-boat, yet each 
when properly handled has safely rid- 
den out an Atlantic gale. Of course if 




16 BOAT SAILING, 

their movements had been directed by 
farm hands both would have foundered. 
In point of fact, there is no royal road 
to the acquisition of seamanship. Ex- 
perience is what is needed first, last and 
all the time. It is true, however, that 
the rough sea over which the learner 
has necessarily to sail may be smoothed 
for him, even as the breakers on a harbor 
bar are rendered passable for a home- 
ward-bound craft by the judicious ap- 
plication of a little oil. 

The choice of a boat depends upon a 
vast variety of circumstances, the chief 
of which is the location of the prospect- 
ive boat owner. If he lives on the 
Great South Bay, for example, he should 
provide himself with a craft of light 
draught, almost capable of sailing on a 
clover field after a heavy fall of dew. 
Equipped with a centerboard and a sail 
a boat of this kind, if of the right shape 
and construction, will be found comfort- 
able, safe and of moderate speed. A 
man may also enjoy an infinite amount 
of pleasure aboard her, after he has 
mastered the secret of her management. 
There are so many sandbars in the 
Great South Bay that a boat of light 
draught is indispensable to successful 
sailing. The same remark applies also 
to Barnegat Bay and adjacent New 
Jersey waters. There are some persons 
who believe that it is impossible to com- 
bine light draught and safety. They 
make a great mistake. A twelve-foot 
sneakbox in Barnegat Bay, with the 
right man steering, will live for a long 



ADVICE TO AN AMATEUR. 17 

time in rough water that would sorely 
try the capacity of a much larger craft 
in the hands of a lubber. The same is 
true of a sharpie. 

The man who makes up his mind that 
he wants a sailing boat should study 
well the geography of his vicinity. If 
he lives in New York or on the Sound 
his course is easy. He is sure to be 
within reach of a yacht or boat club from 
whose members he can get all the infor- 
mation he needs. They will tell him 
the boat best adapted to his require- 
ments and his finances, and if they per- 
suade him to join their organization they 
will be conferring upon him a favor. I 
have traveled a good deal among the 
yacht clubs of New York, New Jersey 
and Connecticut, and I never came 
across a more generous, more obliging 
and more sportsmanlike body of men 
than those enrolled on the rosters of 
these enterprising associations. They 
are convinced that there is more real 
pleasure to the square inch in the pos- 
session of a stout boat capable of being 
managed by a couple of men, than there 
is in the proprietorship of a big yacht 
that carries a crew of twenty and whose 
owner probably knows nothing about 
the art of sailing her, but depends all the 
time on his skipper. It is a pleasure to 
meet these men and listen to their yams. 
The earnestness, the zeal and the ability 
with which they pursue their favor- 
ite pastime are indeed commendable. 
And the best of it is they are always 
ready to welcome recruits, and to pass 



18 BOAT SAILING. 

them through the rudimentary mill of 
seamanship and navigation, their motto 
being ^* Every man his own skipper." 
The only requisite necessary to mem- 
bership in one or more of these clubs is 
that you should be a **clubable" man 
with manly instincts. Young fellows, 
too, are eagerly sought, so you need have 
no compunction about seeking their 
doors, the latchstrings of which are al- 
ways down. 

By all means join a club, I say. You 
get all the advantages of the house and 
the anchorage, and all the benefits that 
accrue to association with men who are 
ardent and enthusiastic in the enjoy- 
ment of their pet diversion. Besides — 
let me whisper a word in your ear, my 
brother, you of the slender purse or 
may be economic instincts — it will be 
cheaper for you in the end ; it will put 
money in your purse. Your boat will 
be looked after all the year round by 
watchful guardians, who will see that it 
isn't stripped or rifled by river pirates, 
and that the elements do not mar its 
beauty. I confess I was surprised when 
I learned how little it costs to become 
entitled to all the privileges of these 
clubs, and it is owing to their moderate 
charges that the " mosquito fleet " in 
the vicinity of New York is growing so 
big and interest in the sport increas- 
ing so rapidly. 

What I have written of New York 
is true, perhaps, in a greater measure of 
Boston. There is no finer sheet of 
water for boat sailing than Boston Bay, 



ADVICE TO AN AMATEUR. 19 

and no people in the world are more 
devoted to the sport than those who 
dwell in the city of culture and its sea- 
washed environs. There are twenty- 
two yacht clubs between Point AUer- 
ton, on the south, and Marblehead, on 
the north. It has been ascertained 
that more than four thousand mem- 
bers have joined these organizations 
and that fifteen hundred yachts are en- 
rolled on their lists, most of the craft 
being- less than twenty feet on the water 
line. It will thus be seen that Boston 
fully appreciates the value of small 
sailing craft as a means of amusement 
and healthful recreation. The port 
from which Volunteer^ Mayflower and 
Puritan originally hailed, though justly 
proud of those three magnificent racing 
yachts, has always been distinguished 
for turning out stout, able and sea- 
worthy vessels of the smaller type, and 
also for breeding a sturdy race of men 
who know every trick of seamanship. 
The majority of the boats are so con- 
structed and rigged as to ensure that 
they will render a good account of 
themselves in a blow and a seaway. 
Thus the '^ sandbagger " type of vessel 
is rarely found **down east," and this, 
in my opinion, need not be regretted. 

The catrigged boat, with stationary 
ballast and a centerboard, may be said 
to be the type generally preferred in 
those waters. The Newport cat-boat is 
famous the world over for her handi- 
ness, speed and ability. I know that it is 
fashionable for scientific men and swell 



20 BOAT SAILING. 

naval architects to decry the seaworth- 
iness of these boats. It has been urged 
that the weight of the mast in the eyes 
of the craft is a serious objection, a strain 
on the hull, and not unlikely to be car- 
ried away for want of proper staying. 
The long boom also has been objected 
to, because of its liability to trip. The 
craft has been declared difficult to steer 
and a regular "' yawer." But while say- 
ing unkind things of the cat-boat's be- 
havior in a blow, no critic, however 
biased, has ventured to deny her gen- 
eral handiness. 

I might remind these gentlemen that 
the owner of a pleasure boat does not 
as a rule sail her in a blow or in a sea- 
way, but this would not be a fair or 
legitimate argument. The elements 
are treacherous. A summer storm often 
plays havoc among the shipping, and a 
man who ventures seaward in the morn- 
ing in a balmy breeze and with the 
water smooth as a horsepond may be 
caught in a savage blow, followed by a 
heavy sea, both of which may sorely try 
the capabilities of his craft and his own 
resources as a seaman. 

I am such a devout believer, however, 
in a cat-boat of proper form and rig, that 
I will defend her as a good and handy 
craft in both fair weather and foul. It 
blows hard in Narragansett Bay some- 
times, and I have often known a devil 
of a sea to be kicked up off Brenton's 
Reef lightship. But the Newport cat- 
boat, with a couple of reefs down, comes 
out of the harbor and dances over the 



ADVICE TO AN AMATEUR, 21 

steep waves like a duck or a cork. I 
never saw one of them come to grief, 
and in fact they have always impressed 
me as being- the handiest all-round boat 
afloat. I have sailed in them in all sorts 
of weather, and I am not likely to alter 
my opinion. Many of the objections 
raised against them are idle. For in- 
stance, the mast can be so stayed as to 
be perfectly secure, and this I will dem- 
onstrate further on. There is also no 
reason why the boom should project so 
far over the stern as to trip, and in this 
connection I should like to ask of what 
use is a topping lift unless one avails 
himself of it in just such an emergency ? 
A man should always keep the boom 
well topped up when running before 
the wind in a seaway, and by this means 
he may avoid much trouble and pos- 
sibly peril. 




n. 

THE CHOICE OF A BOAT. 

IF any resident of New York City, 
Jersey City or Brooklyn were to 
ask me what sort of a boat I 
would recommend him to build 
or buy, I would answer him frankly 
that an able cat-boat, with a center- 
board and stationary ballast would, 
in my judgment, be best. I would ad- 
vise him to shun the ^' sandbaggers " — 
not that one cannot enjoy an immense 
amount of exciting sport in one of them, 
but because they seem to me to be only 
fit for racing, and I will tell you why. 
A man when he goes on a quiet'cruise 
doesn't want to be bothered by having 
to shift heavy bags of sand every time 
the boat goes about. It is too much 
like hard work, and by the time your 
day's fun is finished you feel stiff in the 
joints. I have other arguments against 
the use of shifting ballast, but do not 
think any other save the one mentioned 
is necessary. 

This point disposed of, let us confer. 
Of what shall the stationary ballast for 
our able cat-boat consist ? Outside lead 
is of course the best, but its first cost is 
a serious matter. A cast-iron false keel 
or shoe answers admirably, and is mod- 
erate in price. Some persons object to 
it, claiming that it rusts and corrodes; 



THE CHOICE OF A BOA T, 23 

that its fastenings decay the wooden 
keel to which it is bolted, and that its 
weight strains a boat and soon causes 
her to become leaky. There is of course 
some truth in these charges; hut if the 
boat is built by a mechanic and not an 
impostor, none of these disadvantages 
will exist, and the cast-iron keel will 
prove to be both efficient and economical. 

But if, by straining a point, lead can 
be afforded, procure it by all means and 
have it bolted on outside. It neither 
tarnishes nor corrodes, and as it does 
not deteriorate, its marketable value is 
always the same. Racing yachts have, 
however, been known to sell for less 
than their lead ballast cost, but such in- 
stances are rare. It should be borne in 
mind that the lower down the lead is 
placed the less the quantity required, 
and the greater its efficiency. 

There are always a number of second- 
hand cat-boats in the market for sale at 
a reasonable rate, and an advertisement 
will bring plenty of replies. But for a 
tyro to purchase a boat haphazard is a 
mistake on general principles. It is 
like a sailor buying a horse. Get some 
honest shipwright or boat builder to 
examine, say, some half-dozen boats 
whose dimensions suit you, and whose 
prices are about what you think you 
can afford. There are certain portions 
of a cat-boat that are subject to violent 
strains when the craft is under way. 
The step of the mast and the center- 
board trunk are parts that require the 
vigilant eye of an expert. 



24 BOAT SAILING, 

Human nature is prone to tempta- 
tion, and paint and putty are used quite 
often to conceal many important defects 
in a craft advertised for sale. The keen 
eye of a mechanic who has served his 
time to a boat-builder will soon detect 
all deficiencies of this kind, will ferret 
out rotten timbers, and under his advice 
and counsel you may succeed in picking 
up at a bargain some sound, seaworthy 
and serviceable craft in which you can 
enjoy yourself to your heart's content. 

But if some rotten hull is foisted on 
you by an unscrupulous person you will 
be apt to " kick yourself round the 
block," for she will be always in need of 
repairs, and in the end, when she is 
finally condemned, you will find on fig- 
uring up the cost that it would have 
been money in your pocket if you had 
built a new boat. 

The principal boat-builders of New 
York, New Jersey, Connecticut and 
Massachusetts are men of high charac- 
ter, who take a pride in their work 
(which is thoroughly first-class), and 
whose prices are strictly moderate. Any 
one of these will construct a capital boat 
of good model and fair speed. I am an 
old crank and a bigot in many things 
appertaining to boats and the sea, but I 
hope that any reader of this who is go- 
ing to build a pleasure craft will follow 
my advice at least in this instance : Let 
her be copper-fastened above and below 
the water-line. Don't use a single gal- 
vanized nail or bolt in her construction. 
See that the fastenings are clenched 



THE CHOICE OE A BOA T. 25 

on a roove — not simply turned down. 
Don't spoil the ship for a paltry ha'porth 
of tar. Many builders, for the sake of 
economy, use galvanized iron through- 
out, and will take a solemn affidavit that 
it is quite as good as copper. But in the 
innermost cockles of their hearts they 
know they are wrong. Others more 
conscientious use copper fastenings be- 
low the water-line and galvanized iron 
above; but copper throughout is my cry, 
and so will I ever maintain while I am 
on this side of the Styx. 

Sometimes one may pick up a good 
serviceable boat at a Navy Yard sale. 
Uncle Sam's boats are of fair design and 
well built. They are often condemned 
because they are what is called *'nail 
sick," a defect which can be easily reme- 
died. Occasionally a steamship's life- 
boat can be bought for a trifle, and if it 
be fitted with a false keel with an iron 
shoe on it, will prove thoroughly sea- 
worthy and a moderately good sailer. 

Mr. E. F. Knight, the English barris- 
ter and author of the ** Cruise of the 
Falcon^' tells how he bought a life-boat 
condemned by the Peninsular and Ori- 
ental Company. She was thirty feet long 
with a beam of eight feet, very strong, 
being built of double skins of teak, and, 
like all the life-boats used by that com- 
pany, an excellent sea boat. This craft 
he timbered and decked, rigged her as a 
ketch, and crossed the North Sea in her, 
going as far as Copenhagen and back, 
and encountering plenty of bad weather 
during the adventurous voyage. Mr. 



26 BOAT SAILING, 

Knight is a believer in the pointed or 
life-boat stern for a small vessel. He 
was caught in a northwest gale, in the 
Gulf of Heligoland, in the above-men- 
tioned craft, and had to sail sixty miles be- 
fore a high and dangerous sea. His boat 
showed no tendency to broach to, " but 
rushed straight ahead across the steep 
sea in a fashion that gave us confidence 
and astonished us. Had she had the 
ordinary yacht's stern to present to those 
following masses of water, instead of a 
graceful wedge offering little resistance, 
we should have had a very uncomforta- 
ble time of it. Many men dislike a 
pointed stern and consider it ugly. 
However that may be it behaves hand- 
somely, and we should certainly recom- 
mend any amateur building a sailing 
boat for coasting purposes to give her 
the life-boat stern." 

Mr. Knight fitted his boat with lee 
boards, which no doubt served their 
purpose admirably. I should, however, 
favor a false keel and an iron shoe as 
being more efficient and less unsightly. 
I should not advise the purchaser of a 
condemned life-boat to have her fitted 
with a centerboard. The cost would be 
high, and unless the job was done in a 
first-class manner by a man experienced 
at this sort of work it would be very un- 
satisfactory. 

A "nail-sick," clencher-built boat 
should be hauled up on the beach and 
filled with water. Every leak should 
be marked on the outside with chalk or 
white paint. After all the leaks have 



THE CHOICE OE A BOA T. 27 

been discovered, run the water out of 
her and dry her thoroughly. Next ex- 
amine every nail and try the lands or 
joinings of the planks with the blade of 
a very thin knife. Any rivets which 
have worked loose must be taken out 
and replaced with nails and rooves of a 
larger size. Through the chief parts of 
the bottom it may be necessary to put 
an additional nail between every two 
originally driven. Many of the old nails 
which are only a little slack should be 
hardened at their clench by a few taps 
from inside, one hand holding a '^doUie" 
against the head of the nail on the out- 
side. Melt a pound of pitch in a gallon 
of boiling North Carolina tar and give 
her bottom a good coat inside, filling the 
lands or ledges well. The garboard 
strake fastenings and also those of the 
hooded ends should be carefully caulked. 
So should the seams. The seams of the 
planking should also be caulked. 

There are various methods of making 
a boat unsinkable. Cork is sometimes 
used, but it takes up too much room and 
is not so buoyant as air. Copper or zinc 
cases, made to fit under the thwarts 
and in various odd corners, have been 
fitted in boats, but their cost is high. 
Amateurs have used powder flasks and 
cracker cans, with their covers soldered 
on, cigar boxes, covered with duck and 
painted, bladders inflated with air, etc., 
etc. A boat displacing one ton will take 
about forty cubic feet of air to make her 
unsinkable. 



III. 

TRIAL SPIN IN A CAT-BOAT. 

BEFORE getting a cat-boat under 
way from an anchorage, or casting 
adrift from moorings, the captain 
should see all gear clear, that 
the centerboard works easily in its 
trunk, and that oars, rowlocks and 
a baler are aboard. An oar is very 
handy for turning a boat's head 
round in a light air when she has 
barely steerage way on; and in case you 
are confronted with a flat calm, a pair 
of oars are indispensable for working 
homeward. A boat-hook, too, should 
not be neglected. There is a story that 
I heard in the forecastle, of a mean old 
Dutch skipper who left his new anchor 
ashore on purely economic grounds. 
He was afraid it might rust, I suppose. 
The result of this thrifty dodge was the 
loss of his vessel on the Goodwin Sands, 
My counsel to the young boat-skipper 
is to see that his anchor is snugly stow- 
ed away forward, and that his chain — 
if his cable is of chain — is properly 
shackled to the ring of the anchor, and 
that the inner end of the cable is fast 
to the heel of the mast by a lashing 
that can be cut if it is necessary to slip 
at any time. If the cable is of rope, 



TRIAL SPIN IN A CA T-BOA T. 29 

take care that it is not made fast to the 
ring with a slippery hitch. Anchors 
cost money, and a bend that will not 
come adrift is quite simple to make. 

Cast the tyers off the mainsail and 
hoist it, pulling up best on the throat 
halyards and then " swigging " on the 
peak till the after-leech is taut and the 
sail begins to wrinkle slightl}^ at the 
throat. While you are setting the sail, 
let the sheet fly. Next coil down the 
throat and peak halyards clear for run- 
ning, and see that the^ mainsheet is free 
from kinks and coiled so that it can be 
eased off at a moment's notice without 
any danger of jamming in the block. 
A kink in the mainsheet has capsized 
many a cat-boat. Before you reeve a new 
mainsheet, stretch it well and take all 
the kinks out of it. Take care that the 
running parts of all sheets and halyards 
are coiled uppermost, with the ends 
underneath. 

Let us suppose that there is a nice 
breeze blowing and that your intention 
is to essay a four or five mile beat to 
windward, and then conclude your trial 
trip with a run home. Cast adrift from 
your moorings or get your anchor 
aboard, as the case may be, and start 
out on whichever tack is convenient. 
When on the starboard tack the boom 
is over to port, and vice versa. Lower 
the centerboard and fill away on the 
boat with one hand on the tiller and 
the other holding the mainsheet, which 
should never be belayed, but may be 
held by half a turn round the cleat. 



30 BOAT SAILING. 

Do not make the mistake of trimming 
in the sheet too flat, but let the boom 
off till it is well on the quarter and keep 
the sail well full, not allowing it to 
shiver. This is called steering *^full- 
and-by," which signifies as close to the 
wind as possible with the sail not shak- 
ing. If your boat is well balanced — 
that is, if her weights are well adjusted 
and her sail of proper cut — she will carry 
quite a little weather helm. So much 
so that if you allow the rudder to come 
amidships or on a line with the keel she 
will fly up in the wind and her sails will 
shake. This is by no means a fault un- 
less it is carried to excess, and it may be 
said, indeed, that there is something 
radically wrong with a craft that re- 
quires lee helm — a defect that should 
be remedied at once. 

The young sailor should bear in mind 
that to accomplish the best results in 
beating to windward the sail should al- 
ways be kept full. Nothing is gained 
by sailing a boat right in the wind's eye 
with the sail shivering. The boat then 
points higher but she goes to leeward 
like a crab. Instances have been known 
of a fore-and-aft racing yacht sailing 
within three points of the wind, but 
these are rare, indeed. The ordinary 
cat-boat will not often do better than 
pointing up within four points of the 
breeze, and her best windward work is 
generally thus accomplished. There 
are occasions, indeed, when what is 
known as a " fisherman's luff " may be 
indulged in with profit, such as when 



TRIAL SPIN IN A CAT- BO AT. 31 

rounding a mark or shooting up to an 
anchorage where there is little room. 
The maneuver consists in luffing the 
boat up into the wind so that the sails 
shake, and she shoots dead to windward 
by her own momentum. If the boat is 
a heavy one she will shoot quite a dis- 
tance. Care must be taken to put the 
helm up and fill on her before she loses 
way, or she will get '' in irons " and 
acquire sternway, or perhaps pay off 
on the other tack. If a boat acquires 
sternway the helm must be shifted at 
once. The rudder will now produce the 
reverse effect to what it would if the 
boat were going ahead. Putting the 
tiller to starboard turns the vessel's head 
to port, and vice versa in the case of 
sternway. 

The beginner will find that his boat 
spins along quite merrily and obeys the 
slightest touch of the tiller. He should 
not relax his vigilance in the least, but 
should keep his weather eye skinned for 
sudden gusts of wind or catspaws which 
may be seen ruffling the water to wind- 
ward, in timely season before they strike 
the boat. As the little craft begins to 
heel or list over to the pressure, luff up 
a little so that the fore-leech of the sail 
begins to shiver. If there is not weight 
enough in the puff to put the lee rail 
under, sail her along with just the sus- 
picion of a shake in the luff of the sail, 
so that if she goes over far enough for 
the water to threaten to come over the 
lee coamings and deluge the cockpit you 
can put your helm down and luff up 



32 BOAT SAILING. 

until the boat comes nearly head to 
wind, at the same time lowering away 
your sail and making preparations for 
taking in a reef. 

If you are a novice, and the water is 
neither too rough nor too deep and the 
breeze seems likely to last, and you think 
your craft is not up to carrying a whole 
mainsail, there is no reason why you 
should not drop anchor and reef your 
sail in leisurely and comfortable fashion. 
If you feel at all nervous take in a 
couple of reefs. 

After sail has been shortened set the 
mainsail, hoist up the anchor again and 
thresh her at it. You will observe that 
she inclines less to the puffs under the 
pressure of the reduced sail, and that 
the lee gunwale is always well clear of 
the water. Watch the boat well ; look 
out for coming squalls, and be prepared 
to ease off the sheet and luff up in- 
stantly should occasion arise. If there 
are other boats in company with you 
tacking toward the same point you must 
remember that those on the starboard 
tack have the right of way, and thus 
when you are on the port tack you must 
keep clear of them. I would not advise 
a novice in a boat on the port tack to 
try and cross the bow of a boat on the 
starboard tack unless there is plenty of 
room. Distances on the water are de- 
ceptive to the tyro, and it is well to run 
no risk of collision. If the boat on the 
port tack will not keep away for you 
when you are on the starboard tack, 
and seems to be making for you with 



TRIAL SPIN IN A CAT- BO AT, 33 

the intention of running you down, keep 
cool. Stand by to put your helm hard 
down so as to luff right up in the wind 
or even to go about. If you put your 
helm up and keep away, and a collision 
ensues, you would probably have to pay 
all the damage. The strict legal rule 
is that the vessel on the starboard tack 
must keep her course and neither luff 
nor bear up. If this rule is observed 
you will be within the letter of the law. 
In yacht racing a yacht on the port tack 
can be disqualified if she is struck by a 
yacht which is on the starboard tack, no 
matter how the striking happened ; if 
she herself strikes a yacht which is on 
the starboard tack ; if she causes a yacht 
which is on the starboard tack to bear 
away to avoid a collision. It is appar- 
ent, therefore, that no wise helmsman 
will run any risks. If he is on the port 
tack he w^ill give way with a good grace 
and try to look pleasant. It is better 
than a collision, which is sure in a brisk 
breeze to do a lot of damage, and may 
possibly cause serious personal injuries 
or even loss of life. 

The beginner may, after threshing to 
windward for an hour or so, begin to feel 
homesick. Let him then put his helm up, 
easing the mainsheet off at the same 
time until he gets the boom at a right 
angle with the mast and the boat dead 
before the wind. He will at this time 
have to pay particular attention to the 
steering, giving the boat '* small helm " 
and giving it to her quickly in order to 
keep her steady on her course. Steer- 



34 BOAT SAILING. 

ing a cat-boat in a stiff breeze and lumpy- 
water requires both skill and experience. 
I should counsel a green hand to lower 
the peak of the mainsail and run her 
under easy sail until he acquires the art. 
In that case, should he accidentally gybe 
the boom over, the result is not likely to 
be particularly disastrous ; whereas, if 
the sail were peaked up, the boom might 
snap in two or the boat herself might 
broach to. 

The centerboard should be hoisted 
up into the trunk when running before 
the wind, and the boom should be kept 
well topped up. In some small cat-boats 
there is no topping lift and the sail has 
only one halyard, which hoists both the 
throat and peak. This is a faulty rig. 
Throat and peak halyards should be 
separate, and a topping lift should always 
be fitted. 

I think it my duty to warn the inex- 
perienced boat sailer against gybing 
his little craft. It is a maneuver that 
requires skill and care, especially in a 
brisk breeze. If you must gybe, lower 
the peak so as to ^' scandalize " the sail, 
and haul the boom well aboard as the 
helm is put up. As the wind shifts from 
dead astern and comes on the other 
quarter, carrying the boom over, ease 
off the sheet handsomely and take care 
to meet her promptly with the helm as 
she flies to, which is invariably the case. 
You can then hoist the peak up again. 

If you have women and children 
aboard the boat, gybing should never be 
resorted to if the wind is strong. It is 



TRIAL SPIN IN A CAT- BO AT. 35 

far preferable to luff up into the wind 
and tack and then keep off again. 

In coming to anchor or picking up 
moorings make the boat describe a good 
sweep, so that she may come up in the 
wind and lose her way exactly where 
you wish. You can then either let go 
the anchor or pick up the moorings, as 
the case may be. Then lower the sail, 
furl it snugly, put on the sail cover, stow 
away everything neatly, haul taut the 
halyards and the mainsheet, which you 
should coil up, and leave everything tidy 
and in readiness for getting under way 
next time. 

When, on a wind with a light breeze 
and in smooth water, it becomes neces- 
sary to heave to to let a boat come 
alongside, haul the mainsheet flat aft 
and haul the fore and jib sheets a- weath- 
er. If in a fresh breeze, flatten in the 
mainsheet, let the jib sheet flow, and 
haul the fore sheet a-weather. 

For small open boats the anchor 
should weigh one pound for ever}^ foot 
of length up to twenty feet length. If 
the boat is ballasted, another half pound 
per foot should be added. 

If you have the misfortune to get 
stuck fast in the mud or on a sand bank, 
you must act quickly. If you ground 
while running before the wind, lower 
your sails at once. If you have a 
dinghy, run out your kedge anchor, 
with a line fast to it, astern into deep 
water and try to haul off. Work the 
helm to and fro. Run from side to 
side so as to loosen the boat from her 



36 BOAT SAILING. 

muddy bed. If the tide is rising and 
your kedge does not drag, you will be 
sure to get off. 

If you run aground while close-haul- 
ed, let go the mainsheet, put the helm 
hard over and try to back her off with 
the jib, at the same time using a boat- 
hook or oar to try to shove her into 
deep water. If you have any passen- 
gers, concentrate all their weight as far 
aft as possible. Send out a kedge, and 
let all hands clap to on the line. If the 
tide is on the ebb, you may probably 
have to wait till high water. Now comes 
a ticklish crisis. If your craft is beamy, 
with full bilges, she will take the 
ground and lie easily as the water re- 
cedes. If, on the other hand, your 
little ship is of the deep and narrow 
kind and is not provided with "legs," 
you will have to improvise something 
in that direction to prevent her from 
careening on her side. " Legs '* are not 
fashionable on this side of the Atlantic. 
They are props of wood shod with iron, 
one end of which rests on the bottom, 
while the other fits under the channels, 
or is lashed to a shroud. If you have 
no other spar available, unbend the head 
of the mainsail from the gaff. Stick it 
in the mud jaws downward close to the 
rigging and lash it firmly to a shroud. 
List the boat over to the side the gaff is 
out by guying over the boom and put- 
ting any extra weight you happen to 
have on the same side. The boat will 
then take the ground in safety. 



IV. 

THE YAWL RIG. 

THOUGH I recommend the catboat 
as a general craft for knocking 
about and having a good time in, 
I am not blind to the advan- 
tages of the yawl rig. In fact, the 
bold young seaman contemplating long- 
cruises and sometimes venturing out of 
sight of land will find that the yawl rig 
possesses no mean merit. For single- 
handed cruising its worth has long been 
recognized. The sails are so divided 
that they are small and easy to handle, 
but this division of sail inevitably de- 
creases the speed and also the weath- 
erly qualities of the boat. If we take 
a catboat and change her into a yawl 
rig she w411 not be nearly so fast, nor 
will she point so close to the wind. 
There are fathoms of scientific rea- 
sons for this with which I w411 not 
bother my readers. Suffice it to say 
that it has been demonstrated practi- 
cally over and over again. 

But although the yawl-rigged sailing 
boat of the smallest type has at least 
three sails — foresail, mainsail andmizzen 
— yet the last named, after once being 
set, practically takes care of itself. The 
mainsail, too, is quite easily handled, 
the whole sail being in the body of the 
boat. The foresail sometimes gives a 
little annoyance in taking it in, if the 



38 BOAT SAILING. 

boat is pitching her nose tinder in a 
steep sea. This, however, is unavoid- 
able. Headsails on all sailing vessels, 
big or little, have never been conducive 
to dry skins tinder certain conditions of 
wind and sea. The yawl is always tinder 
control, and in this attribute lies her 
chief charm. When a squall is bearing 
down all one has to do is to lower the 
mainsail and pass a tyer or two round it to 
keep it muzzled. When the gust strikes 
the boat she is under easy sail and is 
not likely to come to grief. If the squall 
is of exceptional strength, ease off the 
foresheet and keep the sail shaking a 
little until you have felt the full strength 
of the wind. Act then as judgment may 
dictate. If the blow is very heavy and 
seems likely to last it may be necessary 
to take in the foresail and the mizzen, 
and close reef the mainsail. 

If you are sailing with the wind a-beam 
and a squall smites you it may not be 
necessary to lower the mainsail at all. 
Ease the sheet right off so as to spill the 
wind, and you will pass safely through 
the ordeal without parting a rope yarn. 

In getting under way or in working 
up to anchorage in a crowded harbor 
or roadstead the yawl rig is one of the 
handiest known, for by having the main- 
sail furled the speed of the boat is re- 
duced so that you can pick your way 
among the craft without danger of col- 
lision or striking flaws. So many fa- 
mous cruises have been made in small 
yawl- rigged craft that there can be no 
doubt about their adaptability for such 



THE YA WL RIG. 39 

work, and to the man anxious for more 
ambitious achievement than merely 
sailing in rivers, bays and sheltered 
harbors, I most certainly would recom- 
mend the rig-. 

Despite the yawl's certain safety for 
single handed cruising, I am not in favor 
of sailing by myself. I prefer a congenial 
companion to share whatever pleasure 
or peril may be encountered. Of course 
one must exercise some wise discrimi- 
nation in the choice of a cruising com- 
panion ; for when once at sea there is no 
way of ridding yourself of an objection- 
able mate except throwing him over- 
board, which would not be exactly fair 
to him. Besides, he might throw you 
overboard, which would be bad for you. 
There are, however, hundreds of good 
yachtsmen and boatmen who have made 
long voyages alone and have written 
charming accounts of their nautical expe- 
ditions. John McGregor's " Voyage 
Alone in the Yawl Rob Roy" and E. 
Middleton's ** Cruise of the Kate " (also 
a yawl) are two entertaining books of 
sea travel which I heartily recommend to 
those who contemplate sailing by them- 
selves. 

While I am in favor of a catboat for 
general purposes in the neighborhood 
of New York, yet when long distance 
trips are to be made the yawl rig will, 
on the whole, be found preferable. 

That keen sportsman, Mr. W. H. H 
Murray, is a firm believer in the yawl 
rig for cruising. In Outing for May, 
1 89 1, there appeared a most valuable 



40 BOAT SAILING. 

article from his facile pen entitled 
"• How I sail Cliamplain''' The Chain- 
plain is of sharpie model, thirty feet on 
the water-line. She is of remarkably 
strong construction, her oaken keel be- 
ing sixteen by twenty inches amidships 
and tapering properly fore and aft. 
Through this keel is sunk a mortise 
four inches wide and sixteen feet long, 
through which the centerboard works. 
This **fin" is of oak planking thick 
enough to easily enter the case when 
hoisted, but leaving little space be- 
tween it and the case when in use. The 
centerboard is sixteen feet long, four 
feet deep forward and seven feet aft, 
and it has fifteen hundred pounds of iron 
for ballast. Mr. Murray says : " When 
the centerboard is lowered this mass of 
metal is eight feet below her water-line, 
and guarantees a stability adequate to 
resist any pressure which the wind can 
put upon her sails and the sails with- 
stand. Of course I am speaking with 
the supposition that the boat receives, 
when under stress, judicious manage- 
ment." 

The centerboard, which weighs two 
thousand pounds, is lifted by a '* differ- 
ential hoist," by means of which '* the 
helmsman, with one hand on the tiller, 
can, if need occurs, with the other eas- 
ily run the heavy board rapidly up into 
the case. The value of this adjustment 
can only be appreciated by a cruising 
yachtsman. It places him in perfect 
control of his craft under all conditions 
of varying depth of water and difficult 



42 BOAT SAILING, 

weather. In a heavy seaway ; in rap- 
idly shoaling water on an unknown 
coast ; when suddenly compelled to 
beat up against a swiftly flowing tide ; 
or when finding himself unexpectedly 
near a reef, unobserved through care- 
lessness or not plainly charted — this 
hoist is simply priceless. It is not over 
expensive, and can easily be adjusted to 
any yacht." 

The cockpit is roomy, and, because of 
its high coamings, is also deep. The 
cabin is sixteen feet long, the forward 
half being permanently roofed. The 
after-half of the cabin is constructed, as 
to its roof, in equal divisions. The for- 
ward-half is tracked, and the after-half 
is grooved to run upon it. Mr. Murray 
finds this arrangement most convenient, 
as it gives to the yacht such coolness 
and comfort as cannot be obtained in a 
cabin permanently roofed. The whole 
roof is so fitted to the coamings that it 
can be quickly and easily removed and 
stowed, leaving the yacht to be sailed 
as an open one, decked from stem to 
midship section. This arrangement is 
an admirable one for harbor sailing in 
bright weather or for racing. 

Regarding the handiness of Cham- 
plain Mr. Murray says : '^ All yachts- 
men know what a disagreeable job it 
is to reef a sloop or cat-boat in rough 
water, and from this cause many skip- 
pers will delay reefing as long as possi- 
ble and often until too late. And be- 
cause of this many accidents happen 
yearly. In this respect the yawl rig 



THE YAWL RIG. 43 

shows to the greatest advantage and 
commends itself to all sensible yachts- 
men. For when the moment has come 
to reef, if the boat is running free her. 
head is brought up to the wind, the 
mizzen and jib sheets trimmed in, and 
with the main boom well inboard the 
pennants are lashed and the reef points 
tied down, w^hen she is let off again and 
goes bow^ling along on her former 
course. In Cha??iplain the three reef 
cringles on the leech of the mainsail 
are all within easy reach from the cock- 
pit, and the skipper, without leaving the 
tiller, can lash the pennants, and hence, 
with only one assistant, the three reefs 
can successively, if need be, be tied 
down. Indeed, so well do the jib and 
mizzen sail work in unison, that unless 
the wind is very puffy and variable, the 
helm can be lashed and she will hold 
her course steadily onward while the 
skipper is tying down the after reef 
points. It is a matter of pleasant sur- 
prise to one not accustomed to this rig 
how easily and rapidly a reef in most 
trying conditions can be taken in the 
mainsail of a yawl whose sails are well 
balanced. 

*' Moreover, unless the squall is a very 
heavy one, a yawl can be eased through 
it without reefing at all. For when the 
wind comes roaring down and the white 
line of froth and spray is right upon 
you, the boat can be brought up to the 
wind and the mainsheet eased hand- 
somely out, and with jib and mizzen 
drawing finely and the mainboom off to 



44 BOAT SAILING. 

leeward the wind whistles harmlessly 
between the masts, while the yacht, only 
slightly disturbed in her balance, sails 
steadily along. Or, if the squall is a 
heavy one and there is no time to reef 
down before it strikes, the yacht can be 
luffed up, the mainsail let down at a run, 
and with the belly of the sail held within 
the lazy-lines the yacht is under safe 
conditions. But ordinarily it is better 
to reef or even tie down the mainsail 
snugly, and as in a yawl it can be done 
rapidly and easily there is no reason 
why it should not be done and every- 
thing be kept shipshape. 

*' In cruising I often sailed Champlain 
under jib and mizzen alone, with the 
mainsail stowed and the boom crutched 
and tied snugly down amidships, espe- 
cially in the night time when it was 
very dark and the weather foul. Under 
this scant canvas with a favorable wind 
she would sail along at a very fair rate 
of speed and even make good progress 
in beating up against quite a sea, and I 
need not say that it adds greatly to the 
pleasure of cruising in a small yacht 
with only one man for your crew to feel 
that you have your boat in a condition 
of perfect control. It is evident that 
with no other rig can this condition to 
the same degree be obtained or such a 
sense of absolute security be enjoyed. 

" To an amateur nothing is more try- 
ing than coming to or getting away 
from moorings, especially if the wind is 
blowing strongly and the anchorage 
ground is crowded with other yachts, 



THE VA IVL RIG. 45 

not to speak of vessels of commerce, 
bateaux, tugs and ferryboats. Under 
such circumstances it is no easy matter 
for any, save an expert, to work a sloop 
or cat-boat or schooner safel}^ out 
through the crowded harbor or basin to 
the open water beyond ; and it is all 
the more trying to a skipper if there is 
a strong tide running at the moment. 
But with a yawl the difficulties of the 
situation are almost wholly removed. 
For with mainsail unlashed he can hoist 
his anchor or cast off from moorings, 
and under his two small sails work his 
boat out slowly and safely from the 
jammed basin or crowded space within 
the breakwater. He must be a tyro in- 
deed who cannot safely manage a yawl 
under the worst possible conditions of 
this sort. 

" In cruising, if the weather is threat- 
ening it is well to carry a single reef in 
the mainsail tmtil it clears up, for a 
yawl works well under such a sail with 
jib and mizzen furled. In such trim 
the yacht is as a cat-boat with a small 
sail, and as her main boom is shorter 
than a cat-boat's or a sloop's she can be 
worked in a very heavy sea wath her 
boom's end well above the rollers. And 
I know of nothing more trying to a 
skipper than to sail his craft with his 
boom's end half the time under water. 
In such a condition the spars, rigging 
and boat are under a stress and strain 
which every prudent skipper dreads and 
seeks to avoid, and it speaks volumes in 
favor of the yawl rig to say that with it 



46 BOAT SAILING. 

such a trying condition can never arise. 
Indeed a yawl under a double-reefed 
mainsail alone is in perfect trim for 
scudding. If well modeled she will 
neither yaw nor thrash the water with 
her boom*s end, but career along almost 
with the speed of the wind itself. For 
her canvas is low down, as it should be, 
and her boom carried well above the 
seething water. In this shape, moreover, 
she can lay a course with the wind well 
over her quarter without strain, and it 
must be a very hard blow and rough 
water indeed to give anxiety to any on 
board of her." 

That the Champlain is a capital sea- 
boat is beyond question. Her owner 
thus describes a run on the lower St. 
Lawrence in returning from a cruise to 
the Saguenay : ** We passed Bale St. 
Paul in the evening, whirled along by a 
rising gale blowing directly up the river. 
The night was pitchy dark, the tide 
running fiercely on the ebb at the rate 
of five miles an hour at the least. The 
water was very wild, as one can easily 
imagine. Stemming such a current it 
would not do to shorten sail if one 
wished to pass Cape Tourmente and get 
into quiet water, the Isle of Orleans and 
the north shore, so we let every sail 
stand, cleated the sheets tightly and let 
her drive. How she did tear onward ! 
The froth and spume lay deep on her 
pathways and after-deck. The waves 
crested fiercely, rolling against the cur- 
rent, and the black water broke into 
phosphor as we slashed through it. I 



THE YA WL RIG. 47 

do not recall that I ever saw a yacht 
forced along more savagely. How the 
water roared under the ledges and 
along the rough shores of Tourmente ! 
And I was profoundly grateful when we 
were able to bear off to starboard and 
run into the still water back of Orleans. 
Perhaps that midnight cup of coffee did 
not taste well ! Its heat ran through 
my chilled veins like Chartreuse. I can 
taste it yet ! " 

The ordinary jib-and-mainsail rigged 
boat, as seen in the waters round New 
York, might easily be improved upon. 
In the first place, the majority of them 
are too much after the skimming-dish 
pattern to suit my fancy. Then the 
mast is stepped as a rule too far forward 
for the best work, and renders reefing 
difficult, as she will not *' lay to " com- 
fortably under her headsail, whereas if 
the mast of a boat is stepped well aft, 
cutter fashion, the boat will lay to quite 
well, and reefing the mainsail is easy. 
The American sloop rig is open to the 
same criticism, and that is why the Eng- 
lish way of rigging a single-sticker is 
being adopted in all our new racing 
craft. To my mind there is nothing 
more hideous than a "bobbed" jib. It 
renders good windward work impossi- 
ble, as it causes a boat to sag off to lee- 
ward and is in other ways a detriment. 
A small boat with the mast stepped in 
the right place and carr3dng a jib and a 
mainsail is, however, a very satisfactory 
craft, good at beating to windward as 
well as reaching or running. I should 



48 BOAT SAILING, 

advise that a ** spit-fire" or storm jib 
be carried along" whenever a sail of any 
distance is contemplated, and also a gaff- 
headed trysail, so that the adventurous 
skipper may be always prepared for 
storm and stress of weather. This ex- 
tra ''muslin " takes up little room when 
properly rolled up. 

The simplest and safest rig in the 
world is the leg-of-mutton sail. It is 
the one fitted exactly for river work, 
where one is sure to encounter puffs of 
some force as ravines are reached or 
valleys passed. To amateurs it is the 
sail par excellence for experimenting 
with, for no matter how many blunders 
are made a mishap is well nigh impossi- 
ble. The leg-of-mutton sail has no gaff, 
nor need it have a boom. There is little 
or no leverage aloft, and all the power 
for mischief it has can be taken out of 
it by slacking off the sheet and spilling 
the wind. The learner might with ad- 
vantage practice with a sail of this 
shape until he becomes proficient. If 
he eventually determines upon a jib and 
mainsail or yawl rig for permanent use, 
he may avoid wasting it by having it 
made over into a storm trysail. 

I would strongly advise every ama- 
teur skipper to shun the ballast-fin de- 
vice as he would shun cold poison or a 
contagious disease. That is unless he 
intends to go in for a regular racing 
career, in which case the cups carried 
off might possibly compensate him for 
the woe, the anguish and the premature 
gray hairs inseparable from this con- 



THE YAWL RIG. 



49 



trivance. Mind you these remarks of 
mine apply only to amateurs and not to 
orizzled sailing-masters of yachts who 
hilly understand how to navigate and 
handle all types of pleasure craft. The- 
oretically the ballast-fin has many obvi- 
ous advantages. 




LATEST TYPE OF FIN-KEEL. 



TBe B.Iemmo Wid*bip «ecrioo 

^ 4\ef N.I 6 H«riT>^j2_, 




The fin consists of a plate of iron or . 
steel to the base of which is affixed a 
bulb of lead, which, being in the best 
possible place, insures stability. The 
fin proper gives lateral resistance in an 
almost perfect form, for there is no 
deadwood either forward or aft and the 
least possible amount of wetted surface. 
I remember when a little boy in a fish- 
ing village on the bank of a land-locked 
arm of the sea, where the water was 
always smooth, how we youngsters 
came to appreciate fully the worth of 
an improvised ballast-fin. We used to 
enjoy the diversion of model yacht sail- 
ing and the delights of many regattas. 



50 BOAT SAILING, 

I owned one of the smartest models in 
the village. She was rigged as a cutter 
with outside lead, self-steering gear and 
all the latest maritime improvements, 
and she generally came out a winner. 
I tell you I used to put on a great many 
airs on this account, and as a natural 
result was duly hated and envied by my 
playmates, who owned more or less 
tubby craft that could scarcely get out 
of their ovv^n way. 

But the day arrived when my pride 
was destined to have a fall. A shrewd 
youth of Scottish extraction came to our 
village for the summer with his father. 
He had the keenest, greenest eye you 
ever saw, and one of those money-mak- 
ing noses that are unmistakable. His 
whole physiognomy and form indicated 
shrewdness. He mingled with us for 
some time on the beach, mudlarked 
with the boys and watched our model 
yacht matches with undisguised inter- 
est. We all got the notion that he was 
an inland landlubber, though it is only 
fair to him to acknowledge that he never 
told us so in so many words. 

One Saturday afternoon, after my 
little cutter had surpassed herself by 
distancing all her opponents, I indulged 
in some unusually tall talk, and chal- 
lenged each and every one of my rivals 
to a race across the '' creek," as the sheet 
of water was called, offering to give 
them four minutes' start, the distance 
being half a mile. 

To my surprise, our green-eyed friend 
came along and accepted the challenge, 



\ 



THE YA WL RIG, 51 

saying that on the following- Saturday 
he would produce a craft that would 
knock spots out of my cutter without 
any time allowance whatever, and with- 
out the aid of a longer hull or larger 
sailspread. He also remarked that he 
had a month's pocket money saved up, 
and was willing to w^ager it on the 
result. I accepted his offer without 
superfluous parleying, and in my mind's 
eye was already investing that pocket 
money of his in various little treasures 
for which I hankered. But, for all that, 
I made every preparation for the fray, 
using very fine sandpaper and pot lead 
till my boat's bottom was beautifully 
burnished, and seeing that her sails and 
gear were in tip top racing condition. 
All the boys wondered w^hat sort of a 
craft my opponent w^ould bring out. 
He had never been seen with a boat of 
any description. We laughed in our 
sleeves and whispered it about that he 
would probably produce one of those 
showy vessels that one sees in the city 
toy store, and that generally sail on 
their beam ends. 

The hour for the race arrived. The 
boys were all excited and flocked to the 
water's edge, whence the start was to 
be made. There was a goodly throng 
of them present, and, notwithstanding 
their contempt for the Scotchman, it 
was no doubt the desire of their hearts 
that some of my overweening conceit 
should be taken down a couple of pegs 
or so. Presently my rival appeared on 
the scene, carrying in his arms the 



52 BOAT SAILING. 

queerest looking craft any of us had 
ever seen. Her hull was shaped like an 
Indian birch bark canoe, except that to 
the rounded bottom a keel was fastened. 
A groove was made in the keel, in which 
an oblong piece of slate was placed, to 
the bottom of which a strip of lead 
was secured. The rig was that of a 
cutter, and I noticed that her sails were 
well cut. She looked quite business-like, 
and when she was measured we found she 
was two inches shorter than my cutter. 
There was a nice, fresh westerly wind 
blowing, and quite a lop of a sea run- 
ning for diminutive craft such as were 
about to race. I had already deemed it 
prudent to take in a reef in the main- 
sail of my vessel, and set a No. 2 jib, but 
my Scotch friend said he thought his 
boat would carry whole sail without any 
trouble. The course was south, so the 
craft had to sail with the wind a-beam. 
The start was made, my boat being to 
windward, as I had won the toss. And 
that w^as all I did win. The " ballast- 
fin " craft beat my cutter so badly that 
even at this distance of time my ears 
tingle and I feel ashamed. While my 
boat was burying herself, her rival took 
the curling wavelets right buoyantly, 
standing up to her work valiantly, 
and moving tWo feet to the cutter's one. 
We accompanied the model yachts in 
row-boats, keeping well to leeward, but 
quite close enough to observe their 
movements accurately. That was my 
first experience of the ballast-fin. We 
all became converts, and shoal, round- 



1 



THE YAWL RIG. 53 

bottomed craft, with slate fins to give sta- 
bility and lateral resistance, were thence- 
forward the fashion. My successful 
rival, we afterward discovered, was the 
son of a naval architect of repute, and 
he is now practising his father's profes- 
sion with a good deal of success. 

Thus I have not a word to say against 
the ballast-fin so far as racing is con- 
cerned, but in cruising the average man 
who sails for pleasure wants a craft that 
he can haul out of the water easily to 
scrub, clean and paint. Now, if you 
put a ballast-fin boat on the mud for any 
one or all of these purposes she requires 
a '' leg " on each side to keep her up- 
right, and also supports at the bow and 
stern to prevent her from turning head 
over heels. The stationary fin always 
represents your true draught of water. 
It is always with you and is an integral 
portion of the boat's hull. If you hap- 
pen to get stuck on a shoal — and this is 
a contingency that has occurred fre- 
quently to the most skillful and careful 
navigator — in thick weather for in- 
stance, your lot is by no means to be 
envied. This is particularly true if the 
tide is falling fast. The boat would go 
over on her side as soon as the water 
got low enough. The crew and pas- 
sengers might have to wait aboard 
until high water, and a precious un- 
comfortable time they would pass I am 
certain. When the flood tide made it 
might be a moot question whether the 
boat would float or fill with water. 

The movable centerplate will always 



54 



BOAT SAILING, 



let you know when you get on a shoal, 
and will in nearly all cases give you 
warning in time to avoid grounding, 
which is always an unpleasant predica- 
ment and one entailing much labor. 
Then, again, the anchorages at which 
small boats can safely lie are generally 
pretty shallow at low water and the bal- 
last-fin is found to be mighty inconven- 
ient for such places. 




SATL PLAN OF MODERN FIN-KEEU 



V. 

KEEP YOUR WEATHER EYE OPEN. 

THE sailer of a boat, little or big, 
should keep his weather eye 
open all the time. When sail- 
ing in a river where the banks 
are of irregular height he should be 
especially on his guard, because puffs 
of considerable violence frequently 
come with little or no warning. A 
few inches of sheet eased off, and 
a gentle luff not quite sufficient to 
spill the sail, will generally prevent the 
shipping of water over the lee gunwale, 
and a possible capsize. Thus the main- 
sheet should never be made fast per- 
manently, and should always be coiled 
so as to be clear for running. A neglect 
of either of these precautions has often 
been attended with fatal results. If by 
any mischance the mainsheet becomes 
jammed do not hesitate, but cut it. A 
sharp knife in such an emergency has 
often saved life when an upset has 
seemed inevitable through the boat be- 
ing nearly on her beam ends. If you 
are sailing in a jib and mainsail craft, 
and the squall has a good deal of weight 
in it, let fly the jib sheet and let the 
boat come up in the wind, at the same 
time lowering away the mainsail and 
taking care to spill it as it comes down. 



56 BOAT SAILING. 

A reef should then be taken in, and the 
boat be filled away on her course. 

While sailing- anywhere in the vicinity 
of New York, and when one of those 
heavy thunder-squalls that are so fre- 
quent in the summer time is seen rising 
in the northwest, waste no time. If not 
in too deep water, anchor at once and 
stow your sails snugly. You can then 
ride out the fury of the squall in perfect 
safety ; that is, if your ground tackle 
is sufficiently strong. If your cable 
parts and you are on a lee shore and 
there is a harbor to run for, scud for it 
under bare poles or with a fragment of 
sail set. If there is no refuge under 
your lee, set as much sail as your boat 
can safely carry and thresh her off shore. 
The chances are that you will be suc- 
cessful, because these squalls while often 
very dangerous seldom last long, and 
are generally followed by a flat calm 
which is more exasperating than a blow. 

We will take it for granted, however, 
that your anchor and chain are of the 
correct strength and quality, and that 
you bring up before the squall strikes 
you. If you have time it w^ould be well 
to close-reef your mainsail before furl- 
ing it, and then you would be prepared 
for any emergency. But let me impress 
upon all who are in charge of boats 
with women and children aboard, that 
it is their duty, when one of those peril- 
fraught thunder-squalls is seen ap- 
proaching, to dowse every stitch of sail 
at once and let go the anchor. There 
is a wide gulf between bravado and 



KEEP YOUR WEATHER EYEOPEN. 57 

bravery, and no truly courag-eous man 
would imperil the lives of anyone, 
especially of helpless women and chil- 
dren. The rash carrying on of c:invas 
has been responsible for more loss of 
life on the water than any other cause. 
It is a seaman who shortens sail in 
time, but a lubber who " cracks on till 
all's blue." 

Great caution is necessary when pass- 
ing under the lee of a vessel at anchor 
or under way, especially in a fresh 
breeze. Your boat is sure to get be- 
calmed and may possibly nearly lose 
her way, so that as she draws clear 
of the object the full force of the 
breeze will strike her when she has 
scarcely steerage way on. The result 
may be a complete knockdown or even 
a capsize. Therefore have your main- 
sheet clear for running, and do not 
hesitate to let it fly in a hurry before 
your little vessel's gunwale is anywhere 
near the water. By all means endeavor 
to keep clear of vessels at anchor. Do 
not try to get in the wash of steam- 
boats, as some foolhardy persons do, 
**3ust for fun." On the contrary take 
special pains to avoid them. When 
you must encounter their wash, which 
in the case of large and fast steamers 
is heavy and dangerous, do your best 
to let your boat take the brunt of the 
waves on the bluff of the bow. If they 
strike her broadside on, swamping is a 
possibility not far remote. 

In sailing a boat in rough water the 
greatest precaution is necessary. A 



58 BOAT SAILING. 

craft that in smooth water could safely 
carry all sail, might when the sea is 
perturbed be forced to stagger along 
under double reefs, the force of the 
wind being the same in both instances. 
Especially is this the case when the 
wind and sea are both abeam, the former 
strong and the latter heavy. This is 
probably the most dangerous point of 
sailing there is, and requires the most 
careful touch of the tiller. A boat heeled 
over to fifteen degrees by the force of the 
wind, by the joint influence of a sudden 
puff and a heavy roll to leeward may be 
inclined to such an angle that a capsize 
is inevitable. When there seems to be 
any danger of this mishap occurring the 
helmsman must not close his eyes to 
keep them warm. When he sees a 
larger wave than usual coming along he 
should put his helm up a little, so that 
it may strike the boat abaft the beam and 
so reduce the danger to a minimum. 
The judicious application of weather 
helm in a beam sea has saved many a 
big ship's deck from being swept, and 
many a small boat from being capsized. 
It is in my judgment rash to sail a 
small boat under these conditions unless 
it is imperative, such as when a harbor 
is being entered, or when the boat's 
course must necessarily be steered with 
wind and sea abeam. I should strongly 
advise the hauling of the boat on a wind 
until she reaches the point where her 
sheets may be eased off and she can be 
headed for her destination with wind 
and sea on the quarter. A boat with 



KEEP YO UR WE A THER EVE OPEN. 59 

any pretensions at all can be sailed 
close-hauled in rough water with safety 
if certain elementary precautions are 
observed. Everybody on board except 
the helmsman should sit amidships in 
the bottom of the boat, so as to keep 
the weight as low as possible and the 
craft herself in her natural trim. No 
unusual weight is wanted in the bow 
of the vessel, which should lift in a 
prompt and lively manner to each sea. 
In an open boat and a nasty sea no 
more sail should be carried than will 
keep her under proper command. 

A great deal depends upon the nerve 
and skill of the man at the tiller. Keep 
her moving all the time. If a big wave 
threatens to come aboard over the 
weather bow, luff smartly into it and 
meet it as nearly end on as possible. 
Then up with the helm at once and fill 
on her again, repeating the process as 
often as it may be needful. Never let the 
lee gunwale get under water in a sea- 
way, nor at any other time, but always 
luff before it is too late, and help her to 
come up in the wind if necessary by 
easing aw^ay the jib sheet. 

If the wind keeps increasing and the 
sea rising, haul down the headsail and 
pass a gasket round it, close-reef your 
mainsail, previously seeing your sea an- 
chor clear for letting go. If you have no 
sea anchor with you, rig some sort of a 
raft with oars, boathook and sails, the lat- 
ter lashed securely to the spars. Make a 
line fast to this raft and pay out about 
twenty fathoms and let the boat ride to 



60 BOAT SAILING. 

it as to an anchor. It is surprising what 
a good effect this contrivance has in 
breaking the waves and keeping the 
boat head to sea. Nothing else can now 
be done until the gale moderates suffi- 
ciently for sail to be made and the boat 
headed for her destination. It may be 
consolatory to those aboard a craft in 
such a contingency to buoy themselves 
up by remembering that some of the 
heaviest gales known have been safely 
ridden out in cockleshell boats without 
any damage to crew, hull or gear. 




DROGUE, OR SEA ANCHOR. 



The sea anchor consists of a hinge- 
jointed galvanized ring about three feet 
in diameter. A conical bag made of 
stout canvas is sewed to the ring and 
roped, as shown in sketch. A bridle is 
fitted to the ring, to which the riding 
hawser is bent. A cork buoy prevents 
the anchor from diving. When thrown 
overboard the mouth of the anchor 
opens and fills. To hoist the anchor on 
board, the tripping line, shown in dia- 
gram, is hauled on. When not in use the 



KEEP YOUR WEATHER EYEOPEN. 61 




DIAGRAM OF FLOAT- 
ING ANCHOR. 



ring- is folded together by the joints, and 
the bag is made fast snugly round it. 
Another plan for 
making a floating anch- 
or is shown below. K, 
M, N, O, are the ends 
of two iron bars formed 
into a cross and connect- 
ed by a stout bolt, nut 
and pin at their inter- 
section, S. At each end 
of the bars is an eye 
through which a strong 
rope is rove, hauled 
taut, and well secured. 
Thus a square is form- 
ed, and over the square 
a piece of strong can- 
vas is laced to the roping. Four ropes 
are made fast to the iron bars, forming 
a bridle. To this the riding hawser 
is made fast. To prevent the anchor 
from sinking, a buoy, B, is made fast 
to one corner by a rope, with five or six 
fathoms of drift. The buoy rope, P, 
leads on board. H is the hawser to 
which the boat is riding, A is the anch- 
or, and B the buoy. To get the anchor 
aboard haul in on the line, P. This will 
cause the anchor to cant edgewise, and 
it can then be easily hauled in. 

In scudding before a strong wind and 
a heavy sea in a small craft, a trysail is 
always preferable to a sail with a boom, 
which may effect much mischief by 
trailing in the water or suddenly gybing. 
The helmsman must be always on the 
9,lert to prevent the boat from '' broach- 



62 BOAT SAILING. 

ing to," which means flying up in the 
wind ; or from being " brought by the 
lee," which means running off so as to 
bring the wind on the other quarter. 
A long, narrow boat will always run 
before the wind better than a short, 
beamy craft, as she is better adapted 
for taking the seas, and she also steers 
easier, not yawing about so much or 
turning round every few minutes to 
take a look at her wake. The inex- 
perienced boat sailer should bear in 
mind that scudding in a seaway is tick- 




FLOATING ANCHOR IN USE. 

lish work, and is not unlikely to be 
attended with peril. If you have no 
trysail, reef the mainsail and lower the 
peak. Hoist on the weather topping 
lift so as to keep the boom as high as 
possible out of the water. By no means 
run a boat before the wind until it blows 
too hard and the sea is too high to heave 
to with safety. If the breeze seems 
likely to pipe up, make up your mind 
immediately. Delay is dangerous. 
Have your sea anchor ready. Watch 



KEEP YOUR WE A THER EYE OPEN. 63 

for a smooth. When it comes put your 
helm down smartly, trimming in the 
mainsheet. When she gets the wind on 
the bow, heave your sea anchor over- 
board and ride to it either with the 
mainsail set or lowered, as may be 
deemed best. 

If you happen to be on a lee shore, 
with the surf breaking high on the 
beach, and you cannot claw off, do not 
wait until it is too late and your boat is 
in the breakers. Let go the anchor, and 
if it holds try to ride out the storm. If 
your grotmd tackle gives way, do your 
best to set the mainsail and steer boldly 
for the shore. The faster you go the 
better chance you have to be carried 
high and dry. Remember that this will 
give you a fighting chance for your life, 
whereas if your boat gets broadside on 
in the breakers she will most likely roll 
over and over and in all probability 
drown you and your crew. 

It may be thought preposterous for 
me to advocate the use of oil to break 
the force of curling wave-crests when 
a small craft is riding to a raft or sea 
anchor. Most people would naturally 
suppose that a boat could not carry 
enough oil aboard her for it to have 
any beneficial effect in smoothing a 
turbulent sea. Nor could it if it was 
poured into the ocean out of its original 
package, or out of "bags with small 
holes punctured in their bottoms," as 
some marine experts advise. The 
proper way to apply oil is to fill a round 
bottomed canvas bag, about two feet 



64 BOAT SAILING. 

long and eight inches in diameter, three 
parts full of oakum or cotton waste. 
Do not pack too tightly. Pour into this 
as much fish or animal oil as the oakurn 
or waste will suck up. Sew the mxouth 
up tightly with palm and needle. vSe- 
cure a lanyard to it. Make a few holes 
in its sides with a marlinespike and hang 
it over the lee bow, and you will be 
surprised at the result. The seas, in- 
stead of breaking over the boat and 
threatening to swamp her, will become 
comparatively smooth as soon as they 
approach the limits of the film of the oil 
as it oozes slowly out of the bag. When 
running over a harbor bar where the 
sea is breaking badly, a couple of these 
bags suspended from either bow will 
prevent the waves from pooping the 
little craft and help her materially in her 
struggle for existence. Mineral oil will 
do if no other is available, and a gallon 
of it will go a long way if used in the 
manner mentioned above. These bags 
should be carried all ready for use when 
cruising, so that all you will have to do 
is to pour the oil in, sew up the mouths 
and hang them over the bows by the 
lanyards. A ship's boat with a dozen 
men aboard once safely weathered an 
Atlantic gale by riding to a couple of 
buckets and a cork fender saturated 
with kerosene. Pouring oil on troubled 
waters is by no means a case of bluff or 
the dream of an op:nm smoker, but a 
capital "wrinkle" by means of which 
many a good man has been saved from 
Davy Jones' yawning locker I trust 



66 BOAT SAILING. 

that these little bags will form part of 
the outfit of all going on long cruises. 
They may serve as pillows or may be 
made in the shape of cushions, so long 
as the above general idea is followed. 

As a striking instance of the value of 
oil in a heavy gale I will quote the case 
of the British ship Slivemore, which 
took fire in June, 1885, while in the In- 
dian Ocean about eight hundred miles 
northeastward of the Seychelle Islands. 
The ship was abandoned and the boats 
steered for the islands. Capt. Conly, 
of the Sliveniore^ gave orders that each 
boat should take aboard two cans of 
paint oil for use in bad weather, and he 
also instructed the officer in command 
of each boat in the use of the oil. Three 
days after the ship was left the boats 
encountered a cyclone. Drags made 
from spars, oars and sails lashed together 
were rigged, and to these improvised 
sea anchors the frail craft rode securely. 
Stockings filled with oakum saturated 
with the oil were hung over the bows of 
the boats and formed an oil-slick of con- 
siderable expanse. Before the stock- 
ings were hung out the boats narrowly 
escaped being swamped and the men 
had to bail hard with buckets. The oil 
prevented the seas from breaking and 
the boats rode over the enormous waves 
in safety. Little water was shipped, and 
those on board the boats were able to 
lie down and sleep while a tropical 
cyclone was raging furiously. All the 
boats reached the islands in safety with- 
out the loss of a man, but had it not 



KEEP YOUR WEATHER EYE OPEN. C7 

been for the oil the loss of the Slivc- 
Diore would have remained an untold 
mystery of the ocean. 

A still more wonderful example of 
the efficacy of oil is told by the captain 
of the ship Martha Cobb^ and it relates 
to the achievement of a sixteen-foot 
dinghy In December, 1886, the Mar- 
tJia Cohb^ petroleum laden, encountered 
a heavy gale in the North Atlantic. 
She shipped some tremendous seas 
which swept away all her large boats, 
washed away her bulwarks and played 
havoc generally with her decks. The 
only boat that was left uninjured was 
the aforesaid sixteen-foot dinghy, in- 
tended solely for smooth water work. 

While laboring and plunging in the 
mountainous sea, the Martha Cobb fell 
in with a sinking vessel flying signals 
of distress to the effect that the water 
was fast gaining on her and that all her 
boats were stove in. The captain of 
the Martha Cobb determined to stand 
by the vessel in distress, in the hope 
that the gale would abate. He knew 
that his little cockleshell of a dinghy 
could not possibly live in such weather, 
and that it would be suicidal to lower 
her and attempt a rescue. 

After standing by till near nightfall 
with no prospect of the storm moderat- 
ing, the commander of the Martha 
Cobb determined to make an effort to 
save the crew of the fast foundering 
craft. The Martha Cobb's petroleum 
was in casks, some of which leaked. 
The captain had noticed that when the 



68 BOAT SAILING. 

pumps were being worked the sea in 
the wake of his ship was always much 
smoother. He got the Martha Cobb to 
windward of the wreck and started the 
pumps, in the hope that the oil in the 
well and bilges would create a smooth 
when it reached the sea, so that the 
dinghy could be lowered in safety. 

He found, however, that the ships 
drifted faster than the oil, so that while 
the sea to windward was comparatively 
smooth the water to leeward was rough 
as ever. So he kept his ship away, ran 
down under the vessel's stern and luffed 
up under her lee. Then he started the 
pumps and also allowed a five-gallon 
can of fish oil to trickle into the water 
through the scuppers. The effect was 
almost miraculous. In less than half- 
an-hour the crested surges and breaking 
combers were converted into long heavy 
swells such as you see when a calm has 
succeeded a heavy gale. 

The little dinghy was lowered, and 
manned by three men was pulled to 
windward alongside the wreck with lit- 
tle difficulty. All hands were rescued, 
and the tiny boat, while engaged in the 
gallant work, shipped no water. All this 
time the waves were breaking furiously 
outside the magic limit of the oil- slick. 

One more illustration and I am done. 
Capt. Amlot, of the steamer Barrowmore^ 
on January twenty-fourth, 1885, while in 
5 1 degrees north latitude and 21 degrees 
west longitude, fell in with the sinking 
ship Kirkwood. This ship had for part of 
her cargo several hundred casks of can- 



KEEP YO UR WE A THEREYE OP EX. 69 

ned salmon. In order to make a smooth 
and allow the boat of the Barrowjnore 
to come along-side in safety, the crew of 
the Kirkiuoodhvo2iQhed a number of the 
cases, and opening* the cans poured the 
oil from them into the sea. This had 
the desired result, and although the sea 
was very heavy the oil reduced it rapid- 
ly, and the boat of the Barroiuniore had 
no difficulty in taking off the twenty-six 
men that composed the ship's company 
of the Kirkwood. 

Two quarts of oil used per hour will 
produce effective results. A ship scud- 
ding before the wind, with a mountain- 
ous sea running and threatening to 
poop her, has expended this amount and 
kept dry. Experts have calculated that 
this quantity of oil has covered the sea 
with an infinitesimal film measuring 
thirty feet in width and ten nautical 
miles in length. As the thickness of this 
film is only .0000047 ^^ ^"^ inch, its effi- 
cacy is indeed marvelous. 

A simple and excellent device for dis- 
tributing oil has been invented'by Capt. 
Townsend, of the United States Signal 
Office. It is cheap and convenient, and is 
especially adapted for use in boats or 
small yachts. It has been thus described : 

** It consists of a hollow metal globe 
ten inches in diameter, with a capacity of 
about one and a-half gallons of oil. It 
has an air chamber separated by a par- 
tition to keep it afloat in a certain posi- 
tion, and there are two valves. When 
filled with oil the upper valve is ad- 
justed to allow oil to flow out at any de- 



70 BOAT SAILING. 

sired rate, while the lower valve admits 
water. When placed in the sea it floats 
with the upper valve a little above the 
surface, and water will enter to displace 
the oil from the graduated upper valve. 




The specific gravity of oil will keep it 
in the upper part of the distributor, and 
the motion of the globe on the breaking 
waves or swell will insure the ejection 
of the oil through the graduated valve 
in any quantity." 

This may be used by towing over the 
bow when running, or made fast to a sea 
anchor when hove to. 

People inclined to be skeptical are, of 
course, at liberty to doubt the efficacy 
of oil to lessen the 
dangerous ef- /^^^ ^N. 
feet of heavy seas, a/^-^S^.^,^^^^ 
but the examples I [ \ 

have quoted are I ^/l J 

simply a few culled \ y^'^w^ 

from several hun- v,, ^ ^^ '^ 
dred well authenti- 

, T PLAN OF OIL DISTRIBUTOR. 

cated cases. 

The lesson learned from the Ship- 
wash lightship some twenty years ago, 
has not been without profit and benefit 
to naval architects^ Let me spin you the 



KEEP YO UR WEA THER EVE OPEN. 71 

yarn. The Shipwash lightship is moor- 
ed in one of the most exposed places on 
the east coast of England, and is thus 
continually encountering particularly 
heavy seas. About twenty years ago the 
old lightship was replaced by a new and 
scientific vessel. The new-fangled craft 
was, however, so remarkably unsteady 
and rolled so heavily that to the storm- 
tossed mariner beating up the coast her 
light appeared to be of crescent shape. 
Her crew got scared. They were afraid 
she would turn turtle. A surveyor from 
the Trinity House was sent aboard, and 
he made a report which was submitted 
to her designer, who eventually said 
the fault complained of could be easily 
remedied by the addition of extra bal- 
last. Accordingly this was done, and 
the next gale she rode out her rolling 
was worse than ever, and produced 
quite a panic among her crew, who 
were afraid to go below while the storm 
lasted. Another report was made to 
headquarters. Other students of naval 
architecture were consulted, who not 
only advised that the extra ballast 
be taken out, but that four tons of lead 
be attached to the frame or cage sup- 
porting the light. These instructions 
were carried out, and the result was the 
steadiest lightship on the east coast. 

A vessel will carry herself full of coal 
and behave herself in heavy weather. 
But when she comes to be laden with 
copper ore or lead, a certain amount of 
ingenuity has to be used in the storage 
of such heavy cargo to make her sea- 



72 



BOAT SAILING, 



worthy at all. If it were all stowed in 
the bottom of the vessel she would loll 
so heavily in a seaway as to get dis- 
masted, and would probably become a 
total wreck. It is now that the ex- 
perienced art of the stevedore comes in. 
The man who follows the proper au- 
thorities would construct a bin or com- 
partment in which to stow this danger- 
ous freight thus : 




The result would be highly satisfac- 
tory. The vessel's center of gravity 
would be the same as though she were 
laden with coal, and her movements in a 
seaway would therefore be quite as easy. 

Another man might construct his 
compartment thus : 




The vessel in this case would labor 
quite heavily on the slightest provoca- 
tion and would not be so steady or so 
seaworthy as the one first mentioned, 
with the narrow bin or compartment 
extending to the upper deck. 



KEEP YO UR WE A THEREYE OPEN. 73 

The same remarks apply to the bal- 
lasting of yachts. Before the days of 
outside lead, when pleasure craft shifted 
their racing for a cruising rig prepara- 
tory to a deep-water voyage, it was 
customary to raise the inside lead ballast 
by placing layers of cork beneath it, 
thus ensuring easy movements in a sea- 
way. Racing yachts nowadays have 
all their weight outside, and this de- 
vice for their relief cannot therefore be 
resorted to. When crossing the Atlantic, 
say for a race for the America's Cup, 
they are always in danger of getting 
caught in a gale of wind and an accom- 
panying mountainous sea. In order to 
prevent excessive rolling, which might 
endanger the mast and consequently the 
vessel herself, it is necessary to keep a 
press of sail set. For this purpose a 
trysail with plenty of hoist to it is indis- 
pensable. It should not be one of those 
jib-headed impostors that some racing 
skippers inost unaccountably affect, but 
one with a good long gaff that will suc- 
cessfully prevent the otherwise inevit- 
able and peril-fraught roll to windward. 

A yacht under these circumstances, it 
is true, cannot carry a great press of 
canvas when on the top of one of those 
big rollers that a gale soon kicks up in 
the Atlantic. But she wants as much 
of her sail area as possible exposed to 
the gale when she is in the hollow of 
the wave. Otherwise there will not be 
sufficient pressure to prevent her from 
rolling to windward. 

Rolling to windward — easy enough to 



74 WAT SAILING 

write, yc". may think — but every sailor 
knows what may follow. Green seas 
fore and aft, mast sprung, men washed 
overboard ; and if the gale does not 
abate, why, Davy Jones' locker for all 
hands and the cook ! 

The storm trysail must necessarily be 
a sheet-footed sail set over the furled 
mainsail. It is a sail comparatively 
narrow at the foot, but it should for ob- 
vious reasons be made as broad as pos- 
sible at the head, in proper proportion 
of course to the breadth of the foot. It 
need not have quite as much hoist as 
the mainsail, for the throat halyards at 
such a time must have a good drift, 
while to Keep the sail inboard the peak 
should be quite extreme. It follows, 
therefore, that although the rollers may 
be high the peak of the trysail is above 
them, and the yacht is kept jogging 
along steadily without any sudden and 
violent shocks or strains to spar or rig- 
ging. 

The following rough sketches will, I 
think, serve to demonstrate the superi- 
ority of the gaff-headed trysail over 
that abortion, the thimble-headed va- 
riety, which I do not hesitate to con- 
demn as useless for a modern yacht 
ballasted with outside lead in a seaway. 



No. I shows vessel with gaffheaded 



KEEP VO UR WEA THER EYE OPEN. 75 

sail on the crest of a wave. She drops 
down into the hollow of the wave and 
becomes No. 2. The shaded part of the 
sail catches the wind over the crests of 
the waves, and the area so exposed is 
sufficient to steady the vessel and give 
her a safe heel or list. 




Now I wish to call your attention to 
No. 3. She has enough sail spread when 
on the crest of a wave. But observe her 
when in the hollow. She has scarcely a 
stitch of sail above the level of the crest. 
The consequence is that her weight 
being so low down, and her form having 
so much stability, she swings with a 
violent roll to windward and her mast 
is thereby imperilled. This is the result 
of not having the requisite amount of 
pressure at the head of the sail. 

The commanders of square-rigged 
vessels always bear this in mind. They 
heave to under a close-reefed maintop- 
sail, never under a lower course, and the 
ship VvThen in the trough of the sea has 
enough sail exposed to keep her steady. 
The smart schooners that used to ply 
between St. Michaels and London in the 
fruit trade, and that were bound to make 
smart passages or lose money, were 
always fitted with gaffheaded trysails, 
and found them most efficacious in beat- 



7G BOAT SAILING, 

ing- to windward in strong- gales. Their 
sturdy skippers would have looked with 
contempt and ridicule upon any person 
so fatuous as to recommend a jibheaded 
trysail. And they were skilled sailors 
of fore-and-aft rigged craft, and were 
well acquainted with that stretch of the 
wild Atlantic between the Lizard and 
the Azores. These vessels used to beat 
up the English Channel in the teeth of 
an easterly gale and fight their way 
homeward inch by inch, and I consider 
the practical experience of their cap- 
tains as far more reliable than the theo- 
retical vagaries of men w^ho were never 
out of soundings in a small craft. 

What is true of comparatively large 
yachts in an Atlantic gale applies 
equally to the small cruiser. The theory 
is precisely the same, and in ordering a 
storm trysail from his sailmaker the 
aspiring owner of a smart, seaworthy 
cruiser might well be guided by the few 
hints given above. A gaff headed trysail 
is just what he wants to steady his boat 
when hove to, and to counteract that 
tendency toward rolling that outside 
lead always has on the hull of a boat in 
a seaway. 



VI. 

FITTING OUT FOR A CRUISE. 

IN equipping- a boat for a cruise, 
even in summer, it is always well 
to remember that gales of wind 
are not unusual even in July. 
I once knew it to blow with spiteful 
ferocity in the last week of that 
month, and to disperse the Atlantic 
Yacht Club squadron and drive them to 
seek shelter in various harbors of Long 
Island Sound, between Black Rock and 
New Haven. Out of the whole fleet 
only two yachts reached their destina- 
tion, New London. One was the sloop 
Athlon^ Vice-Commodore E. B. Havens, 
on board of which I was a guest, and 
the forty-footer CJiispa. It was quite 
an exciting and hard thrash to wind- 
ward in the teeth of an easterly gale, 
but we got there. Had not the two 
yachts mentioned been properly pre- 
pared for such an exigency, they also 
would have been forced to bear up and 
run for some land-locked haven in which 
to linger until the wind had blown itself 
out. Although these summer gales 
generally exhaust themselves in twenty- 
four hours, they are often quite savage 
while they last, and the sensible yachts- 
man will always be prepared to meet 
them, His standing and running rig- 



78 BOAT SAILING. 

ging will be in first-class condition; 
whatever storm canvas he carries will 
be ready for bending at a moment's 
notice; his sea anchor or drogue will 
also be at hand for letting go should 
the necessity arise. 

Of course I need not impress upon the 
amateur boat sailer that a compass 
should be taken along on a cruise. But 
I have mingled a good deal with the 
owners of small craft, and have met 
many who either did not carry one at 
all or, if it was aboard, as likely as not 
stowed it away in the same locker with 
a hatchet, marlinespike and other tools 
not likely to improve it. A compass 
should always form part of a boat's out- 
fit. A fog often makes its appearance 
when a party of pleasure seekers are 
enjoying a sail on sound or bay, and 
when it shuts down on you thick as a 
hedge I will defy you not to lose your 
bearings, and consequently your way. 
In times such as these a compass will 
prove a source of great comfort, and in- 
stead of being compelled to anchor and 
await clear weather you can steer for 
your destination under shortened sail. 
In such cases never fail to blow the 
foghorn, which should be of regulation 
size and not a penny squeaking trumpet 
such as a six-year old schoolboy affects. 
The ordinary boat's compass will answer 
admirably if only short sails are con- 
templated, but on a long cruise where a 
heavy sea is not unlikely to be encoun- 
tered, a fluid compass should be carried. 
The motion of a small craft in rough 



FITTING OUT FOR A CRUISE. 79 

water causes the common compass card 
to jump about so much as to be perfectly 
useless to steer by, while a fluid com- 
pass remains steady and reliable under 
all circumstances and conditions. There 
are several fluid compasses in the mar- 
ket at a reasonable price, which can be 
depended upon in an emergency. The 
fluid on which the needle floats is gen- 
erally alcohol, to guard against freezing, 
and is simply a development of a primi- 
tive compass used by the daring seamen 
of the twelfth century. This old-fash- 
ioned instrument consisted of an iron 
needle, one end of which was stuck into 
a piece of cork. The other end was 
well rubbed with a loadstone, and when 
the cork was floated in an earthenware 
bowl of water the end so treated pointed 
to the magnetic North. In spite of the 
meager knowledge of those early navi- 
gators concerning variation and devia- 
tion, they generally managed to make a 
sufficiently good land-fall. It may not 
be generally known that a sewing needle 
rubbed on a magnet and carefully 
dropped into a vessel of water will float 
and point to the North. 

The rule of the road at sea requires 
vessels in a fog to go at a moderate 
speed and to blow the foghorn at inter- 
vals of not less than two minutes ; when 
on the starboard tack one blast, when 
on the port tack two blasts in succession, 
and when with the wind abaft the beam 
three blasts in succession. It also has 
certain imperative rules for a vessel at 
anchor in a fog. 



80 BOAT SAILING. 

The law provides that a vessel not 
tinder way in a fog shall at intervals of 
not more than two minutes ring a bell. 
It will be seen therefore that a bell is 
quite as necessary as a foghorn. If a 
boat at anchor or under way in thick 
weather, with neither bell nor foghorn 
in use as provided by the law, should be 
run into and damaged or sunk by any 
other vessel, her owner would have no 
redress. On the contrary, if he escaped 
with his life he could be forced to pay 
for any damage, however trifling, the 
vessel colliding with him sustained in 
the act. If he was drowned his estate 
would be liable. 

A bell should form part of the careful 
boatowner's outfit. But if you have 
neglected providing one, don't despair. 
Get out a frying pan or a tin kettle and 
kick up as much racket as you can by 
beating one or both with a hammer or a 
marlinespike. A fishhorn has many times 
answered the purpose of a foghorn, 
but I would not recommend it as a 
steady substitute. All I wish to convey 
is that a frying pan and a fishhorn are 
better than nothing. 

The variety of anchor to be carried 
depends very much upon choice. There 
are several kinds for sale quite suitable 
for small cruisers, all of which have 
good points to recommend them. 

The law is imperative as regards the 
carrying of lights by night when at 
anchor or under way. If your craft is 
very small, there is a light in the market 
fitted with green and red slides to be 



\f- ^:-- 



PLEASANT CAT-BOAT SAILING. 



83 BOAT SAILING, 

shown when required, which may suit 
your purpose. But if your craft has any 
pretensions to size provide yourself with 
a pair of brass side lights and also a 
good brass anchor light. Avoid those 
flimsy articles with which the market 
is flooded. The best are cheapest in 
the end. See that all the lamps you 
have aboard take the same sized wick. 
Buy the brand of oil known as mineral 
sperm, which is used by all first-class 
steamship lines. Its quality has borne 
the test of years and has never been 
found wanting. For lamp cleaning take 
a plentiful supply of cotton waste and 
old newspapers, the last named for pol- 
ishing the glass. A hand lead and line 
must not be forgotten, while an aneroid 
barometer, a thermometer and a marine 
clock will be both useful and ornament- 
al. Do not forget a canvas bucket and 
a deck scrubber. 

A few tools will be found necessary. 
A hatchet, hammer, chisel, file, jack- 
knife, gimlet, screw driver, small cross- 
cut saw and an assortment of screws 
and nails will be about all that is essen- 
tial in this direction. A few yards of 
duck, palm and needles and sewing 
twine, a ball of marline, one of spun 
yarn and a marlinespike may be stowed 
away snugly, and their possession 
in case of need is often a great boon. 
The adventurous voyager must use his 
own discretion as to his wardrobe. 
The marine " dude " is in evidence in 
our midst, and who am I that I should 
condemn a man for trying to look his 



FITTING OUT FOR A CRUISE. 83 

prettiest, both ashore and afloat ? Don't 
forget to buy a good suit of oilers, and 
don't fail to slip them on when it rains. 
When you come to get to my age, and 
feel the rheumatism in your old bones, 
you will wish you had followed my 
advice. 

Tastes differ so widely that it is hard 
to advise a man as to his cuisine when 
afloat. What would suit an old sea dog 
** right down to the ground" might not 
be palatable to the nautical epicure with 
a taste for humming-bird's livers on 
toast, or other such dainty kickshaws. 
Personally, I can enjoy a good square 
meal of sardines and hardtack, wash it 
down with a cup of coffee and wind up 
with a pipe of plug tobacco, and con- 
clude that I have feasted like a prince. 
This is probably due to my forecastle 
training. Others are more fastidious. 
Luckily this is the age of canned viands, 
and almost every delicacy under the sun 
is put up in convenient form, requiring 
only a can-opener to extract the hidden 
sweetness. 

The culinary difficulty that confronts 
the sailer of a small craft is the cooking 
stove. Like the servant girl problem, it 
is still unsolved. Many great geniuses 
have wasted the midnight oil and have 
nearly exhausted the gray matter of 
their brains in trying to invent a stove 
that shall be suitable for a little cockle- 
shell of a boat with a penchant for 
dancing over the waves in lively style. 
Some have tried cast-iron stoves with a 
smokestack, and coal for fuel, and have 



84 BOAT SAILING. 

cursed their folly ever after. Gasoline 
stoves, so long as they don't explode and 
set fire to the boat, are convenient and 
cleanly. Various kinds of alcohol lamps, 
hung on gimbals to accommodate them- 
selves to the perpetual motion of a 
vessel, are in use and are thoroughly 
adapted for making a pot of coffee, tea 
or chocolate, and for heating a can of 
soup or preserved meat. A hungry 
boatman should not ask for more luxuri- 
ous fare. There are preparations of 
coffee, and milk and cocoa, and milk in 
cans, which can be got ready in a hurry 
and with the least possible trouble. 
They are also nice, and I do not hesi- 
tate to stamp them with the seal of my 
approval. By looking over the cata- 
logue of the canned goods of any first- 
class grocer, you will find a quantity of 
varieties to select from, all of excellent 
quality and moderate in price. In order 
to provide against waste it would be 
advisable if cruising alone to buy the 
smallest packages in which the viands 
are put up. Hardtack should be kept in 
airtight tin boxes to guard against damp. 
Matches can be stowed in a glass fruit jar, 
and in this snug receptacle defy salt spray 
and sea air which threaten the integ- 
rity of brimstone and phosphorus. The 
man who indulges in tobacco (and what 
lover of the sea does not ?) will find it 
well to pack a supply of fusees in another 
glass jar, so that he can keep his match 
safe replenished and be able to light his 
pipe or cigar no matter how the breeze 
may blow. I have found tobacco a 



FITTING OUT FOR A CRUISE. 85 

mighty source of comfort under adverse 
mental and physical conditions, and its 
soothing influence has made many a 
trick at the tiller seem less weary. 

Cooking in a small craft tossed like a 
cork on the waves is a confounded 
nuisance, but a hot meal tastes well 
after you have been stuck at the tiller 
for four or five hours in squally weather. 
I remember an incident that occurred 
on board my cutter, the Heather Bell^ 
when ingenuity provided a hot break- 
fast which otherwise we should not 
have enjoyed. We were caught in a 
southerly gale in the English Channel, 
and under trysail and spitfire jib we 
were doing our best to claw off a lee 
shore. I had been at the tiller nearly 
all night, and when day broke I was 
thoroughly exhausted. The little cutter 
— she was only fifteen tons — was pitch- 
ing and 'scending at such a lively rate 
that lighting a fire in the stove was out 
of the question. My chum, however, 
managed to make some coflfee with the 
aid of a spirit lamp, and also to cook a 
couple of plump Yarmouth bloaters. 
This last-named feat was difficult, but 
my chum was a man of genius. An in- 
spiration came to him. He split the 
bloaters down the backs, put them 
in an extra deep frying pan, such as 
should always be used at sea, deluged 
them with Scotch whiskey, old and 
smoky, and set fire to it. I can see him 
now, hanging on to the cabin ladder 
with one hand and balancing the frying 
pan in the other, so that the blazing 



86 BOAT SAILING. 

whiskey should not overflow and set fire 
to the cabin. Those bloaters were fine. 
They went right to the spot. It was 
rather an expensive mode of cooking, 
for the whiskey in question was choice, 
but we both agreed that the fishes were 
worthy of it. I suppose they would 
have tasted just as well if they had been 
cooked in alcohol, but that idea did not 
occur to my friend. A beefsteak pre- 
pared in the same way was delicious. 
We had it for dinner and soon after there 
came a shift of wind which enabled us 
to run for Newhaven and sleep com- 
fortably. 

You should take with you a box of 
seidlitz powders, a bottle of vaseline, 
court plaster, a box of your pet pills, a 
bottle of extract of witch hazel, a bottle 
of extract of ginger, a bottle of Sun 
cholera mixture, and a bottle of Hors- 
ford's acid phosphate. These should be 
stowed away in a medicine-chest, which, 
if you have any mechanical skill at all, 
you can make yourself. If you are no 
hand at a saw or a chisel, a small medi- 
cine-chest, filled with all the requisites 
and adapted for use in a boat, can be 
obtained from any good drug-store at a 
reasonable figure. 

A locker for the storage of ice is in- 
dispensable for one's comfort when sail- 
ing in these latitudes in summer. The 
locker should be lined with zinc, and 
should be fitted with a brass tap to draw 
off the waste water. Wrap your ice up 
in paper first, and then in a piece of 
coarse flannel, and you will be surprised 



FITTIXG OUT FOR A CRUISE. 87 

at the length of time it will keep. A 
porous earthenware bottle should form 
part of your equipment. It can be sus- 
pended in a draught, and will supply 
you with a moderately cool drink when 
your ice is all used. 

Remember that sea air generates damp 
very quickly in a cabin. Bedding should 
be aired and sunned if possible every 
day, and the cabin should be well ven- 
tilated. Cleanliness and comfort go to- 
gether in a boat, and scrubbing-brush 
and swab should not be allowed to get 
dry-rot by disuse. Cultivate order and 
tidiness so far as the domestic economy 
of your yacht is concerned. Have a 
place for everything and everything in 
its place, or your little cabin will present 
a slovenly appearance instead of looking 
pretty and snug. 

If the interior of your cabin is painted 
white, use enamel paint, which dries 
hard and smooth, and can be easily 
cleaned by washing with warm (not 
hot) water, soap and sponge. 

Cocoa-nut matting is better than car- 
pet or oil-cloth as a covering for a small 
craft's cabin floor. It is difficult to dry 
carpet when it gets thoroughly drenched 
with salt water. Oil-cloth is comfortless 
and cold to bare feet, but cocoa-nut 
matting is open to neither of these ob- 
jections. It is easily w^ashed and dries 
quickly. 

The cushions for the cabin may be 
stuffed with cork shavings or horse-hair 
and covered with india-rubber sheeting. 
1 hese may again be covered with cor- 



88 BOAT SAILING, 

duroy or blue flannel, as the india-rub- 
ber sneeting is cold. Mattresses made 
of deers' hair are in the market, and 
are quite comfortable. Being buoyant, 
they can be used as life-savers in an 
emergency. 

Cups, saucers, plates and dishes of 
enameled iron or agate ware are un- 
breakable and much superior to those 
of tin, which rust and are hard to keep 
clean. Crockery and glassware are eas- 
ily destroyed in a cruising craft, in spite 
of the ingenious racks and lockers in- 
vented to preserve them. 

Don't omit to include fishing tackle 
among your stores. There is lots of 
sport in catching blue-fish or mackerel 
when under way, and many a weary 
hour when your craft is becalmed may 
be beguiled with hook and line. Be- 
sides, a fish fresh from the water forms 
an agreeable and appetizing change 
from the monotony of canned goods. 
There is no necessity to purchase ex- 
pensive tackle for sea-fishing. All that 
is wanted is strong and serviceable gear. 
For blue-fishing provide yourself with 
a well-laid cotton line, which is not lia- 
ble to kink. The line should be seven- 
sixteenths of an inch in circumference 
for the big fish one catches in spring 
and fall, and the hooks should be strong. 
It is well to carry with you several vari- 
eties of squid. For smaller blue-fish 
a lighter, cotton-braided line is good. 
When I go blue-fishing I take rubber 
finger-stalls along to prevent my fingers 
being chafed by the line. My readers 



FITTING OUT FOR A CRUISE. 89 

should do the same. Horse-mackerel 
and Spanish mackerel are often taken 
with a blue-fish line. 

For navigating purposes all that is 
really necessary for a coasting voyage 
is a chart of the waters you propose to 
sail in, a pair of dividers and parallel 
rulers, and a book of sailing directions. 
A patent log may be added if so desired, 
and will add to the accuracy of your 
dead reckoning. 

Thus equipped, the navigator may 
boldly venture forth either by himself 
or with a congenial companion. If he 
does not enjoy every moment of his 
cruise, and gain health and strength 
from the tonic sea breezes, he can safely 
conclude that Nature never intended 
him for a sailor. In that case he should 
dispose of his craft at once and seek 
such consolation as agricultural pursuits 
afford. 





VII. 

COMBINATION ROWING AND SAILING 
BOATS. 

A BOAT intended for both 
rowing and sailing 
should be partly decked, 
and have as high a 
coaming as possible round the 
cockpit. A folding centerboard 
should be fitted as in Fig. lo, 
so as to avoid the awkwardness 
of a trunk,which in a small craft 
takes up too much room. Out- 
side ballast is not necessary ; a 
few bags of sand will do in- 
stead. An open boat under 
sail is dangerous except in the 
chall and ^auds of a skilled boatman. In 
traveler, a scrub racc the helmsman 
^^' "' cracks on until the lee gun- 
wale is almost on a level with the 
water. He may go along like this for 
some time, but if the water is rough, 
ten to one a sea will sooner or later come 
in over the lee bow, and the weight of 
water to leeward may cause the boat 
to capsize before the sheet can be let go 
and the helm put hard down to bring 
her head to wind. This in itself is not 
agreeable ; and failing to right the boat 
one may be compelled to cling to the 
keel or rail until relief comes, or till he 
gets too tired to hang on any longer. 



Comb in at 1071 Rowing and Sailing Boats. 91 

The excellent sport of sailing in a stiff 
breeze is obtained at its best only in a 
partly decked boat. The half-decked 
craft may also be made into a life-boat 
with the aid of water-tight boxes of tin 
or zinc. The cockpit should be made as 
narrow as is compatible with comfort. 

The combination rowing and sailing 
boat should have as little gear as possi- 
ble. Sheets and halyards should always 
be kept clear for running and never be 
allowed to get foul. If you are so un- 
lucky or so imprudent as to meet with 
a capsize, keep clear of the ropes, for a 



Jib and Mainsail Rig. Fig. 2. 

turn of one round the leg may send you 
to Davy Jones's locker. 

In writing of rigs suitable for small 
craft I shall not weary my readers with 
descriptions of sails that are not at all 
adapted for practical use in Northern 
waters. The amateur desirous of be- 



92 BOAT SAILING. 

coming acquainted with the rig of boats 
suitable for Bermuda waters, the Nor- 
folk Broads, the Nile, or the inland lakes 
of Timbuctoo must look elsewhere. 
Nevertheless the amateur may rest con- 
fident that I give practical instructions 
for the best possible rigs, and he may- 
adopt any one of them after due consid- 
eration of the comments on each variety 
without any fear of future regret. 

The mast of the combination sailing 
and rowing boat which is shown in Fig. 
2, should be so stepped that it can be 
taken down at a moment's notice. It 
should not be stepped into the keelson 
through a hole in the thwart, but should 
be fitted with a strong iron clamp and pin 
screwed to the after part of the thwart, 
so that it may be unshipped in a hurry. 
The mast should be light and strong. 
The sheave-hole in the head should be 
fitted with a galvanized-iron or yellow- 
metal sheave, and should be sufficiently 
large for the halyards to travel freely 
when the rope is swollen with water. A 
block may be fitted to the mast-head for 
the jib halyards. The boat should be 
provided with a galvanized-iron horse 
for the lower block of the mainsheet to 
travel on. This is a great convenience 
in beating to windward as the boom will 
go over by itself without the aid of the 
helmsman. The sail also sets better 
with the aid of a horse to keep the 
boom down. 

The jib sheets and all halyards should 
lead aft within easy reach of the helms- 
man so that he may be able to handle 



Combination Rowing and Sailing Boats. 93 

them without letting go the tiller. The 
cushions of the stern sheets should be 
stuffed with cork shavings such as 
grapes come packed in from Spain. 
They should have life lines sewed to 
them so that in case of need they may 
be used as life-preservers. 




Sprit Rig. Fig. 3. 

The boat should be equipped with 
three oars ( as one may be broken ), 
a boat-hook and a baler ; and the plug 
in the bottom should be secured to the 
boat by a lanyard and screw-eye. A 
tiller should be used for steering when 
sailing and not a yoke and lines. 

Remember that you must luff when 
the first breath of the squall strikes the 
boat, for if way is lost and the boat is 
hove down on her beam ends, lee helm 
ceases to possess its virtue and the boat 
may capsize. This is a sound and wise 
axiom and one that a beginner should 



94 BOAT SAILING. 

impress rigidly on his mind. Never 
allow skylarking in a boat. Never at- 
tempt to climb the mast of an open boat, 
as it is an operation fraught with dan- 
ger. Rather tmstep the mast for any 
repairs that may be necessary. Never 
stand on the thwarts of a small boat 
when under way. 

If women and children are on board 
never gybe the boom over. Many acci- 
dents have happened through the neg- 
lect of this precaution. No matter how 
expert a boat-sailer you may be, never 
take women and children out in a boat 
with only yourself to handle her. Al- 
ways take care that you have with you 
either a skilled professional hand or an 
amateur who knows the ropes, can take 
his trick at the tiller and does not lose 
his head in a squall or other emergency 
of sea, lake, sound. or river. In default 
of being able to command the services 
of such a man, leave the women and 
children ashore and postpone the excur- 
sion heedless of the tears and entreaties 
of your best girl and the black looks of 
your prospective mother-in-law. A lov- 
ers* quarrel is easily made up, but a 
capsized boat may mean loss of life and 
agonies of regret and self-reproach. 

I was once persuaded against my bet- 
ter judgment to take out a party of la- 
dies for a sail in a jib-and-mainsail boat. 
We put out from a dock at Perth- Am- 
boy in the afternoon, with a cloudless 
sky and a soft, sweet summer zephyr 
blowing. There was one other of my 
sex aboard and he told me he perfectly 



Combinatiot Rowi7ig and Saili7ig Boats. 95 

understood the handling of a boat. He 
wore a yachting suit and cocked his eye 
aloft in a knowing and nautical manner 
that deceived even an old stager like 
myself. A huge black bank of clouds 
arose in the northwest presaging the 
speedy approach of a savage thunder- 
squall. I told my nautical - looking 
shipmate to lower the jib, but he did not 
know how to find the halyards, and he 
was equally ignorant of the whereabouts 
of the sheet. I gave the tiller to one of 
the girls to hold, hauled down the jib, 
made it fast, lowered the mainsail and 
furled it as snugly as I could and then 
let go the anchor which, luckily, hc^dn't 
been left ashore. All this time my nau- 
tical-looking chum was star-gazing. As 
a matter of fact he knew no more about 
a boat than a bull knows of trigonome- 
try. His specialty, I was afterwards in- 
formed, was measuring off tape by the 
yard and ogling his customers. I had 
to do a good deal of hustling to get the 
craft snug for the squall and to stow 
away my girl guests in the shelter of the 
little half-deck forward, where they fit- 
ted as tight as sardines in a box. 

When the squall struck us it was a 
hummer and no mistake. I veered out 
all the cable there was and she rode to 
it quite well. There came a deluge of 
rain with the blast, and the boat was 
soon nearly half full. The girls screamed 
and prayed. The counter-jumper looked 
pale about the gills and being too scared 
to bail flopped on his marrow-bones. 
Now praying on shipboard is not to be 



96 BOAT SAILING. 

scoffed at, but it should be delayed until 
man has exhausted every possible means 
of saving- the ship. I had to do all the 
bailing myself and when the squall had 
blown itself out I had to set the sails 
and hoist the anchor without any aid 
from the linen-draper. 

That is one reason why I don*t go sail- 
ing single-handed any more with a boat- 
load of girls. Do you blame me, ship- 
mates ? They are as likely to get cranky 
as the boat herself, and one female at a 
time is all the average man can keep on 
an even keel. Of course I know many 
girls who can give me points and beat 
me easily in yachting and all that apper- 
tains thereto ; but fair ones of that sort 
are not so plentiful as they might be. 

It should be remembered that these 
small rowing and sailing boats are not 
intended for a spin round Sandy Hook 
lightship. They are for smooth water 
and in their place are capable of afford- 
ing their owners an immense amount of 
wholesome enjoyment. On a pinch they 
will stand a hard tussle with wind and 
wave, but it is never wise to tempt Prov- 
idence. I once knew an Irishman who 
often declared that he was so favored by 
fortune that he could fall off a dock into 
the water and not get wet, but the aver- 
age man is not built that way. An am- 
bitious amateur may well begin his ca- 
reer on the water with one of these 
interesting little toys I have described, 
and even if he aspires to become the 
owner of a stouter and more seaworthy 
craft in which to essay adventurous 



Combinai207i Ro^vhir and Sailinij; /inafs. 97 

cruises of ^reat emprise, he will learn 
much that is of value from her. 

With these cautionary remarks I will 
proceed to describe the rig-s which in 
my judg-ment are suitable for boats 
measuring from tw^elve to seventeen 
feet over all. 

The lei^-of -mutton rig, whether com- 
bined with a jib or not, is the simplest 
and safest knowm, for there is no weight 
aloft such as is inevitable with a gaff. 




Leg-of mutton Rig. Fig. 4. 

It is a sail exactly adapted to the re- 
quirements of a learner. The most 
nervous mother need not be alarmed if 
her boy goes sailing in a boat equipped 
with this rig. The sail is hoisted by a 
single halyard bent to the cringle at the 
Jiead of the sail and rove through either 



BOAT SAILING. 



a sheave or a block at the masthead. 
Sometimes the luff is laced to the mast, 
but it is better that it should be seized 
to hoops, as shown in Fig. 4. If a boom 
is used a larger sail can be carried, but 
it should be only a light spar and the 
foot of the sail should be laced to it. 




Cat Rig. Fig. 9. 

The boom may be fitted with a topping 
lift and the sheet be rove as shown in 
the illustration. In a small open boat 
no stays are necessary for the mast, but 
the jib halyards should be belayed to a 
cleat on one gunwale of the boat and 
the main halyards on the other, so as to 
afford support to the mast, 



Combination Rowing and Sailing Boats. 99 

The jib and leg-of-mutton sail is a de- 
servedly popular rig. A short bow- 
sprit may be fitted to a boat and secured 
to an eyebolt in the stem by a wire bob- 
stay. A wire forestay may be set up to 
the bowsprit end and a jib may be bent 
to iron hanks on it and hoisted by a sin- 
gle halyard. Or it may be set flying on 
its own luff, whichever the boat owner 
prefers. 

The advantages of the cat rig (Fig. 
9) for general handiness have been oft- 
en explained. I should advise that the 
sail be hoisted by both throat and peak 
halyards and not by a single halyard 
as is sometimes the case. It is often 
most convenient to be able to drop the 
peak, when gybing, for instance, or 
when struck by a squall. A single top- 
ping lift should be fitted with an eye 
splice to the end of the boom and 
rove through a block at the mast- 
head and belayed to a cleat on the mast. 
The main sheet should travel on an 
iron horse. 

The balance lug, which is illustrated 
in Fig. 8, is quite a popular rig, and it 
has much in its favor. The sail is laced 
to a yard and boom and is hoisted by a 
single halyard rove through a sheave- 
hole in the masthead and spliced to the 
eye of the hook of a galvanized-iron 
traveler, to which a strop on the yard 
is hooked, as shown in the illustration. 
On the other end of the halyard a sin- 
gle block is turned in, through which a 
rope is rove, the standing part of which 
is made fast to an eyebolt at the foot 



100 



BOAT SAILING, 




Balance Lug Rig. 



Fig. 8. Showing Traveler and 
Halyards. 



of the mast and the hauling- part rove 
through a block and led aft within easy 
reach of the helmsman. The tack should 
be made fast to the boom and set up 
to the mast thwart after being passed 
round the mast. The main sheet should 
work on a galvanized- iron horse. This 
rig is quite handy and a boat so 
equipped is smart in stays. 

The sliding gunter rig, which is shown 
in Fig. 5, has this much to recommend 
it : it is easily set if rigged as shown in 
the illustration and it can quickly be 
reefed. It will be seen that the mast is 



Combination Rowing a7id Saihng Boats. 101 

in two pieces, the topmast slidin^^ up and 
down the lower mast on two wrought- 
iron rings or travelers. The halyards 
are sometimes made fast to the lower 
traveler and sometimes to the upper. 
They reeve through a sheave-hole in the 
lower masthead and may be set up with 
a single whip purchase. The lower mast 
may be supported with a single wire 
shroud on each side and, if the double 
headrig- is carried, with a wire stay to 
the stem head. The sail should be laced 
to the topmast and secured to the lower 
mast by hoops or iron rings leathered. 
These should be large enough to slide 
easily up and down the mast, which 
should be kept well greased. The top- 
mast should be so rigged that the upper 




Sliding Gunter Rig. Fig. 5. 



103 



BOAT SAILING. 



iron can be undamped and the topmast 
lowered down so as to permit the sail 
to be stowed like a gaff-sail along the 
boom. With the sail thus furled the 
boat will ride much easier in a breeze 
or a seaway. In Fig. 6 the working of 
the rig is shown: i is the lower mast, 
2 the topmast, 3 the halyards, 4 the 
upper ring, or traveler, with a clamp 




Detail of Sliding Gunter Rig, Fig. 6. 



and pin to permit the lowering of the 
topmast, 5 the lower ring or traveler, 
which is fitted with a hinge at 6 ; 7 is 
the gooseneck of the boom to which 
the foot of the sail is laced. Reefing is 
simple. Lower away on the halyards, 
make fast the cringle on the luff of the 
sail, at whatever reef band is desired, to 
the gooseneck on the boom. Haul out 
the corresponding reef earing, make it 
fast, tie your reef points and hoist up 



Covibi7iat207i Rowing and Sailing Boats. 103 

the sail again by the halyards. A top- 
ping lift is necessary. 

The spritsail is not often seen in these 
waters, but it is a good sail for a small 
boat. I warn the beginner, however, 
against its use in a craft of any preten- 
sions to size, for he will find the heavy 
sprit much more difficult to handle than 
a gaff. A spritsail is similar in shape 
to the mainsail of a cutter, with the peak 
higher and the foot shorter, as in Fig. 3. 
The sprit is a spar which crosses the 
sail diagonally from luff to peak. It is 
thick in the middle, and each end is 
tapered. The upper end fits into a 
cringle or eye in the peak of the sail 
and the lower end into a snotter on 
the mast. The sprit stretches the sail 
quite flat and thus a boat is able to 
point well to windward. The snotter 
is a piece of stout rope having an eye 
in each end, one being passed round 
the mast and rove through the eye in 
the other end, the heel of the sprit fit- 
ting in the remaining eye. If the 
snotter carries away, the heel of the 
sprit may be forced by its own weight 
through the bottom of the boat; accord- 
ingly, as it has to stand considerable 
strain, it should be made of stout stuff. 
To set the sail, hoist it up by the hal- 
yards, slip the upper end of the sprit 
into the cringle in the peak, push it up 
as high as you can and insert the heel 
into the snotter ; then trim the sheet. 
In large boats the snotter is made fast 
to an iron traveler which is hoisted by a 
whip purchase as shown in Figs, i and 3. 



104 



BOAT SAILING. 



The sprit rig- cannot be said to be 
pretty, and when the sail is large it is 
difficult to reet it. I should not coun- 
sel its use except in a boat intended for 
both rowing and sailing, where the sail 
would be so small as to be easily 
muzzled in case of a squall. The sprit- 
sail is hoisted by halyards, 
rove through a block or 
sheave-hole at the mast- 
head and hooked to a crin- 
gle at the throat of the sail. 
The tack of the sail is lashed 
to an eyebolt in the mast. 
In reef- 
ing- the ^ 
spr i tr 
m u s t ( 
be low- 
ered by 

shifting the 
snotter further 
down the mast. 




Folding Centerboard. 



Fig. lo. 




VIII. 
RIGGING AND SAILS. 

WIRE has entirely superseded rope 
for standing rigging, and dead- 
eyes and lanyards are fast 
giving way before the advance 
of the turnbuckle. An 'old sailor can- 
not help regretting the decline and fall 
of his profession and the growing 
popularity of the art of the black- 
smith. So far as the rigging of ships is 
concerned, when wire rigging was first 
introduced it was thought that its rigid- 
ity would prove a fatal objection to its 
successful use. 

Science has, however, set its foot down 
firmly on such objections. The decree 
has gone forth that rigging cannot pos- 
sibly be set up too taut, and the less it 
stretches the better. The old argument 
that a yacht's standing rigging should 
" give ** when the craft is caught in a 
squall, which old sea dogs were so fond 
of advancing, has been knocked on the 
head by scientific men who declare that 
a vessel's heeling capacity affords much 
more relief than the yielding quality of 
rigging. Thus all or nearly all of the 
modern immense steel sailing vessels in 
the East Indian and Australian trade 
have their steel masts stayed as rigidly 
as possible by means of turn buckles, and 
practice seems to have demonstrated the 



106 



BOAT SAILING, 



truth of the theory. These ships en- 
counter terrific seas and gales off the 
Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, and 
their masts are thus subjected to violent 
and sudden strains, but I have been as- 
sured by the commanders of several of 
these great freight carriers that they 
have never known their ^' sticks " to be 
imperilled by the rigidity of the rigging, 
and the tauter it can be set up the more 
secure the masts are supposed to be. 

There are, however, a number of old 
salts who condemn this theory as rank 
heresy, and go in for deadeyes and lan- 
yards of the old-fashioned kind, and the 
greater the stretch between the upper 
and the lower deadeyes the better are 
they pleased. There is no doubt that 
turnbuckles look neater than deadeyes, 
and they are probably well suited for 
small craft. The Herreshoffs have long 
used them for setting 
up the rigging of the 
sloops and yawls of 
moderate size which 
they used to turn out 
in such numbers, and 
which ■ first laid the 
foundation of their 
fame. The boat owner 
can please himself as to 
which method he may 
choose, and he can rely 
that with either hisc 
mast will be perfectly** 
secure. Both methods 
are shown in the ac- shroud, deadeye. 
companymg cuts. lanyard. 




RIGGING AND SAILS. 



107 



There is one thing in connection with 
wire rigging that I must warn the ama- 
teur against. Beware of shod wire rig- 
ging. ** Shoes " are iron plates riveted 
to the ends of wire rigging to receive 
shackle bolts. They are never reliable. 
E ye splices in wire never draw. " Shoes" 
often collapse without notice. 

Turnbuckles are very 
handy appliances for set- 
ting up rigging in a hurry, 
whereas the same opera- 
tion conducted by means 
of a deadeye and a lanyard 
takes much more time and 
trouble. A small craft 
rigged as a sloop, cutter 
or yawl, requires only one 
shroud on each side to 
afford lateral support to 
the mast, and a forestay 
— which in the case of a 
cutter or yawl should set 
up at the stem head, but ^ ^ 
on a sloop is set up on the^ [S_ _"~f 
bowsprit. A simple way ' 
to fit the rigging is to 
splice an eye in each 
shroud, forming a collar 
sufficiently large to pass over the 
masthead, first covering the part that 
is to form the eye with canvas sewn 
on and painted. The starboard shroud 
goes over the masthead first, then 
the port one and last the forestay. 
In large yachts the lower rigging 
is often fitted in pairs, the bight of the 
shrouds being passed over the masthead 




TURNBUCKLE. 



108 



BOAT SAILING. 



and secured in the form of an eye with a 
stout wire seizing. 

Many riggers shackle the shrouds to 
an iron band fitted to the hounds. This 
plan is open to objection. There may 
be a flaw in the iron and the band may 
give way suddenly, causing the mast to 
snap off short like the stem of a clay 
pipe. Bands may look a little more 
snug than the collars, but they are 
heavier aloft and not so 
reliable, and for these 
reasons I am old-fash- 
ioned enough to prefer 
the collars. 

For a small sloop, cut- 
ter or yawl, a pole mast 
is preferable ; but all 
boats more than twenty 
feet on the water line 
should be fitted with top- 
masts, the rigging of 
which is shown in the 
cut. 

I strongly recommend 
a running bowsprit for a 
-.cutter or yawl of any 
pretensions to tonnage. 
They have been used for 
years and have been 
found to work admir- 
ably. The length of the 
bowsprit is reduced as the jibs are 
shifted, until when the "spitfire" or 
storm jib is set the bowsprit is run 
so far inboard that it looks like a 
stump. In a sea-way the bene- 
this is obvious, the weight being 




mere 
fit of 



RIGGING AND SAILS. 109 

materially reduced forward and the 
pitching" consequently lessened. The 
jib also sits well and does its work, and 
is far preferable to that horror of horrors 
the ^* bobbed" jib of a sloop, which 
always makes a sailor's flesh creep when 
he sees it. How it has managed to sur- 
vive is a marvel to me. It is a lubberly 
and slovenly device not good enough 
for a scow. The rigging of a running 
bowsprit is shown in the cut. 




RIG OF* RUNNING BOWSPRIT. 

When it becomes necessary to set the 
storm trysail, lower away the mainsail 
and furl it as fast as possible. Lower 
the boom down into the crutch amid- 
ships, and secure it by hauling the sheet 
taut and by tackles or lashings from 
each quarter. Unhook the throat and 
peak halyards and hook them on to the 
trysail gaff, the jaws of which parral on 
to the mast, allowing the gaff end to 
rest on the deck. The topping lifts 
must be unhooked from the main boom 
and taken in to the mast or the rigging, 
so as to be out of the way of the try- 
sail. Lace the head of the trysail to 
the gaff. The clew of the trysail is 
hauled aft by a luff-tackle which forms 
the sheet. Another tackle should be 



110 BOAT SAILING. 

hooked to the clew and made fast to 
windward over the main boom and gaff, 
so that in case of a shift of wind the 
sheet may be hauled aft on the other 
side without delay or the danger of 
getting aback. Then you can man the 
throat and peak halyards and set the 
sail, trimming the sheet well down. 

If you should have the misfortune to 
carry away the main boom, and you 
have no trysail on board, lower away 
the sail, unlace it from the boom, close- 
reef it, and set it with a luff-tackle for 
a sheet. When about to set the storm 
trysail and your vessel is yawl rigged, 
set the storm mizzen. It will keep her 
head up to the sea while the sails are 
being shifted. In a cutter, heave to by 
hauling the fore sheet to windward, 
keeping the jib full. Shifting jibs in 
heavy weather in a cutter requires care. 
The first thing to do is to get the sail 
up from below and stretch it along 
the weather side of the forward deck 
with the head aft. Haul the foresheet 
to windward and trim the mainsheet in 
flat, tricing up the tack if the sail is 
loose-footed. Keep the boat as close 
to the wind as possible. Let go the 
jib outhaul, and the sail will fly in along 
the bowsprit. Muzzle it, man the down- 
haul, let go the halyards and down with 
it ! Then reef the bowsprit. Some 
cutters are fitted with a rack and pin- 
ion wheel, with a handle like that of a 
winch, for this purpose. If not supplied 
with this handy contrivance, reeve a 
heel rope, and after slacking the bob*^ 




RIGGING AND SAILS. Ill 

stay fall and the falls 
of the shrouds and 
topmast stay, heave 
on it until you can 
knock the fid out. 
Then rouse the bow- 
sprit in by the shroud 
tackles to the second 
or third fid holes, as 
desired ; ship the fid 
and set up the gear, 
beginning with the ^o^se for main 
bobstay, the weacher sheet. 

shroud next and the lee shroud last, 
at the same time taking in the slack 
of the topmast stay. Now to set the 
jib. First hook on the sheets and 
take a turn with the lee one ; next 
hook on the tack to the traveler and 
the halyards to- the head. Man the 
outhaul and bowse the tack out to the 
bowsprit end. Hoist up on the hal- 
yards and sweat up with the purchase. 
Trim the sheet, let draw the foresheet, 
ease off the mainsheet and sail her along 
again. If these instructions are carried 
out a storm jib may be set on a reefed 
bowsprit without parting a rope yarn. 

To shake a reef out in the mainsail, 
set up on the topping lift so that it may 
take the weight of the boom. Untie all 
the reef points. Cast off the lashing at 
the tack if the sail is laced to the boom, 
or come up the tack tackle if it is loose- 
footed. Then ease off the reef earring 
and hoist the sail, setting up the throat 
first. You can then ease up the topping 
.lift and trim sheet. 



113 BOAT SAILING, 

A convenient method of bending and 
unbending a storm trysail is shown in 
Fig. X and Fig. E. 





FIG. X. FIG. E. 

Fig. X represents the shape of the 
mast hoops, to each of which two iron 
hooks are fastened. The hoops are of 
the ordinary size, but about one-quarter 
of their length is sawn out and to the 
ends the iron hooks are riveted. Fig. E 
shows how the thimble toggles are 
seized to the luff of the sail at regular 
intervals. When it is necessary to set 
the trysail, adjust the jaws of the gaff to 
the mast, make fast the parral, hook on 
the throat and peak halyard blocks and 
mouse them. Hoist up slowly, slipping 
the thimbles over the hooks on the ends 
of the hoops as the sail goes up. The 
sheet must be hauled aft before the sail 
is hoisted, and should be slacked off 
handsomely to allow the sail to be prop- 
erly set. Then all hands should clap on 
it and flatten it in. 

If your boat is rigged as a cutter or 
yawl the foresail may have the tack 
made fast to the eyebolt to which the 
stay is set up. The luff of the sail is 
seized to galvanized iron hanks that run 



RIGGIXG AND SAILS. 113 

up and down on the stay. If the fore- 
sail has a reef band in it (as it should) a 
lacing- is used between the reef and tack 
cringles. Don't bowse up the halyards 
too taut the first time you set the sail, 
and don't break your back flattening in 
the sheet. Give it a chance to stretch 
fairly. The same remark also applies 
to the jib, whether set on a stay or flying 
on its own luff, as it must necessarily 
do if your craft is equipped with a run- 
ning bowsprit. 

For the sake of lightness, blocks are 
frequently made too small. Manilla 
rope, of which both sheets and halyards 
should be made, has a habit of swelling 
when wet. It is generally rove on a 
dry day, and renders through blocks 
quite easily when in this condition. A 
rain squall will swell this rope to such 
an extent, and halyards will jam so hard, 
that sails will not come down when 
wanted, and disasters happen. The 
work of setting and taking in sail is 
made very laborious through small 
blocks and large sized halyards. It 
should be borne in mind that halyards 
ought to run through blocks as freely 
when wet as dry. Blocks should always 
be fitted with patent sheaves. 

The running rigging of a mainsail 
consists of peak and throat halyards, 
topping lifts, main sheet and peak down- 
haul. To bend a mainsail, shackle the 
throat cringle to the eyebolt under the 
jaws of the gaff, stretch the head of 
the sail along the gaff, reeve the peak 
earring through the hole in the end of 



114 



BOAT SAILING. 



the gaff and haul it out, securing it in 
the manner shown in the illustration. 
The earring is represented with the 
turns passed loosely in order to give the 
amateur a clear and distinct view of the 
proper method. It will be seen that a a 
is the peak end of the gaff ; ^ is a check 
block for the topsail sheet ; ^ is a block 
for the peak down haul, used also as 
signal halyards, hooked to an eyebolt 
screwed into the end of the gaff, the 
hook of the block being moused ; <^ is a 
hole in the gaff end through which the 
earring is passed. The earring is spliced 
into the cringle with a long eye splice. 




It is then passed through d round 
through the cringle e; through d again 
and through e again ; then up over the 
gaff at i and k, down the other side and 
through e again, and so on up round the 
gaff four or five times ; at the last, in- 
stead of going up over the gaff again, 
the earring is passed between the parts 
round the gaff as shown at/, round all 
the parts that were passed through d^ as 
shown at in, and jammed by two half 
hitches m and h. 

If the sail is new from the sailmaker's 
loft, only haul the head out hand taut or 
you will ruin it. I have seen yacht skip- 



RIGGIXG AND SAILS. 115 

pers clap a *' handy billy " tackle on the 
head of a new mainsail and haul on it till 
they could get no more. I have seen 
them treat the foot in the same way, the 
result being a great bag of canvas of no 
possible use in beating to windward. A 
mainsail costs a good deal of money 
and is easily spoiled. One of Mr. John 
M. Sawyer's splendidly cut sails can 
have all its utility and beauty taken out 
of it in half-an-hour by a lubberly sail- 
ing master. 

After the head earring is passed, lace 
the head of the sail to the gaff, taking a 
half hitch at each eyelet hole. Next 
seize the luff of the sail to the mast 
hoops with marline. The foot of the 
mainsail should next be made fast to 
the boom in the same manner as the 
peak, the lacing going round a wire 
jackstay rove through eyebolts on the 
top of the boom. Do not " sweat up " 
either the throat or peak halyards too 
taut the first time you set it, and avoid 
reefing a new sail. Lower it down 
altogether, set the trysail, or do the best 
you can under head sail and the mizzen 
if on board a yawl. A mainsail should 
always be allowed to stretch gradually, 
and the slack of the head and the foot 
should be taken up at intervals. Re- 
member that no greater injury can be 
done to a new sail than to try and make 
it sit flat by hauling out the foot too 
taut before it has been properly 
stretched. The best authorities advise 
that the sail should be set with the leech 
slack, and the boat run before a strong 



116 BOAT SAILING, 

wind for vSeveral hours. Another excel- 
lent plan is to hoist the sail up with the 
foot and head slack while the boat is at 
anchor,and as it flaps about in the breeze 
the sail will stretch without injury. Of 
course when the head and foot are thor- 
oughly stretched they can be hauled 
out taut as they can be got. 

Personally, I prefer a mainsail with 
the foot laced to the boom, but all are 
not of my way of thinking. A loose- 
footed mainsail has many admirers and 
this is how it works. The mainsail out- 
haul consists of an iron horse on the 
boom, a shackle as traveler, a wire out- 
haul made fast to the shackle and rove 
through a sheavehole at the boom end 
and set up by a purchase. 



GEAR FOR HAULING OUT LOOSE-FOOTED MAINSAIL. 

If the mainsail is of the loose-footed 
variety it should be fitted with a tack 
tricing tackle and a main tack purchase. 
The last named is handy for bowsing 
down the luff of the sail " bar taut " for 
racing. Sweating-up the throat halyards 
lowers the peak slightly, and peaking the 
sail slackens the luff. By hauling up on 
the main tack tricing tackle till you can 
get no more, and at the same time lower- 



RIGGING AND SAILS. 117 

ing the peak, the mainsail is " scandal- 
ized " and the boom can then be gybed 
over in a strong breeze with the least 
possible risk of carrying away some- 
thing. 

To prevent masthoops from jamming 
when the mainsail is being hoisted or 
lowered, a small line is seized to the fore- 
side of the top hoop and then to every 
hoop down the mast. When the throat 
halyards are pulled on, the foresides of 
the hoops feel the strain and go up par- 
allel with the after sides. The accom- 
panying figure shows this at a glance. 




It is true that this method has found 
little favor with amateurs, but I tried it 
with great success on my first cruising 
craft, and later on in a yacht of far 
greater pretensions. The " wrinkle " 
should by no means be despised. 



IX. 
LAYING UP FOR THE WINTER. 

THE judicious yachtsman will per- 
sonally superintend the laying up 
of his craft. If he has that ines- 
timable blessing, a good skipper, 
he should not discharge him at the close 
of his summer season. If he does he will 
bitterly regret it. A yacht requires as 
much watchful care as a baby, and this is 
especially true during the trying winter 
season. So wise yacht-owners who have 
in their employ faithful captains should 
hold on to them like grim death to a 
deceased army mule. Good men are 
not too plentiful these times. 

A few practical suggestions as to pre- 
paring the vessel for the winter are here 
appended. In the first place, sails 
should be well dried before being un- 
bent, and then should be carefully 
stopped and labeled, and the same re- 
mark applies also to the running gear. 
By all means secure storage ashore for 
sails, gear, cabin fitments and furniture, 
carpets, upholstery and bedding, other- 
wise you may have cause to regret it in 
the spring. In most of the buildings 
devoted to the storage of yacht gear 
proper platforms or stages are provided, 
so that a free current of air may circu- 
late, and thus prevent damp, mildew 
and decay. The lower tier on the plat- 
form should consist of the warps and 



LA YING UP FOR THE IVIXTER. 119 

running gear, on top of which the sails 
should be snugly coiled. Above these 
the furniture, bedding and upholstery 
should go. AH can be covered over 
with an old light sail to protect them 
from dust. This can be removed as 
often as necessary for airing purposes. 

On the other side of the Atlantic ju- 
dicious owners of storage warehouses 
make their platforms rat-proof, follow- 
ing out the same idea as the farmer does 
with his wheat stacks. Each support 
to the stage is capped with a metal 
cone, which effectually stops the upward 
progress of the sail-devouring vermin. 
Well - conducted warehouses are well 
ventilated, and the temperature is kept 
tolerably even by heat. 

Of course, all articles of value, such as 
plate and nautical instruments, should 
find repository in their owner's dwelling. 

All light spars should be sent ashore 
and lashed up under the beams of the 
warehouse. The same with the row- 
boats, but with attention to the fact that 
they should be so supported as to have 
their weight evenly distributed, and 
thus prevent them from being pulled 
out of shape. 

Many expensive boats are hopelessly 
ruined by neglect of this precaution. 
This is the proper method of support- 
ing a rowboat so that straining her is 
impossible. Six eyebolts should be 
screwed into the under side of the 
beams of the warehouse at proper in- 
tervals to take the weight of the boat 
amidships and at the third of her length 



120 BOAT SAILING. 

forward and aft. From these eyebolts 
ropes of sufficient length should de- 
pend, to which, in the bight, a hand- 
spike is passed, on which, bottom up- 
ward, the boat is hung. 

A yacht laid up without the greatest 
care deteriorates in value to an enor- 
mous extent. The first process after 
dismantling is to clean the vessel 
thoroughly iuvside and out, just as care- 
fully as if she was about to be con- 
tinued in commission. After getting 
her as bright as a new pin, all the hard- 
wood — that which is varnished or gilded 
— should be covered up with canvas. 

After the yacht has been thoroughly 
skinned, as far as her internal arrange- 
ments are concerned, the last process 
preliminary to paying her out of com- 
mission, is to give her decks a coat or 
two of bright varnish — shunning that 
mixture known in the trade as pure oil, 
as deleterious to all decks. 

It is cheaper in the long run to pro- 
vide a yacht with properly fitted winter 
hatches which entirely cover the hard- 
wood deck fittings and secure thorough 
ventilation, as then the regular skylights 
can be left open. 

In small craft the sailing master will 
be sufficient to keep the boat in first- 
class condition. On larger vessels, ac- 
cording to size, he should have compe- 
tent assistance. 

Whether a yacht is moored alongside 
a quay or another vessel, winter storms 
cause her to do a little rolling, which 
invariably induces chafing. Unless a 



LA VING UP FOR THE WINTER, 121 

vessel is properly protected by fenders, 
her planksheer and bulwarks are sure 
to be seriously injured, and to repair 
this part of a ship is costly in the ex- 
treme, especially in regard to the plank- 
sheer. Should the planksheer be 
" shoved up " by contact with the dock 
or the ship to which she is moored along- 
side, the damage done could only be 
properly repaired by the removal of 
both bulwark and rail. To guard 
against severe injuries of this kind un- 
ceasing vigilance is necessary. If you 
can induce your skipper to live on board, 
all the better. In such a case your 
yacht will be kept in as dainty condi- 
tion as your wife's boudoir. Snow is 
very penetrating. It will find its way 
even through rubber boots. A little 
leak may at first have no significance. 
But the leak increases and rot follows, 
fastenings are corroded and paintwork 
discolored. 

Every vessel afloat suffers more or 
less from '^sweating," caused by the 
difference between the temperature of 
the air outside and inside the ship. To 
obviate this a fire should be kept going ; 
not a furious furnace that would involve 
a great expenditure of coal, but simply 
some heating device that gives a mod- 
erate amount of warmth all through 
the ship. Thus, w^hen the owner re- 
turns to his yacht in the spring, he will 
find her sweet and clean, and will never 
regret the few paltry dollars it has cost 
him to keep his floating summer home 
in seagoing condition. The careful 



122 BOAT SAILING, 

skipper will see that his extra help is 
kept busy, so that not only a casual vis- 
itor must compliment her owner on her 
spick and span condition, but a naval 
architect or a Lloyd's surveyor can find 
no flaw or fault to peck at. For, down 
to her deadwood and timbers, by the 
application of soap, hot water and plenty 
of elbow-grease, she is made fit for re- 
painting right down to her keel. 

By conservative and preservative 
methods such as these a yacht's life is 
prolonged, and she will always fetch her 
value in the market, the noisome odor 
of bilge water being unknown. 

The foregoing remarks are applicable 
to pleasure craft that are kept afloat 
during the winter. It is needless to ex- 
patiate on the benefit of hauling out 
yachts of any size or construction, 
whether of wood, composite, iron, steel 
or Tobin bronze or aluminum. The 
expense of hauling large boats out is 
considerable, for obvious reasons, and 
thus it is that yacht owners do not 
care to incur the cost. This objection 
does not apply to small craft, which 
should invariably be landed for the 
winter and efficiently protected by can- 
vas, or other covering, from the de- 
structive influence of snow and rain. 
All that has been said above in relation 
to the storage of sails and gear applies 
as much to a one-tonner as to the largest 
pleasure craft afloat. 

When we go into the question of 
steam yachts, no better advice can be 
given than that contained above, so far 



LA YIiXG UP FOR THE WINTER. 123 

as hull and equipment are concerned. It 
is different when the proper care of 
machinery is considered. There it is 
where the services of a loyal and skill- 
ful engineer come into full play. Unless 
sufficient attention is paid to a vessel's 
boilers and engines during the critical 
time when she reposes in dock, disas- 
trous results, entailing vast expenditure, 
are sure to follow. The complicated 
and ingenious mechanism which propels 
the modern steam yacht requires de- 
voted regard. Very expensive when 
new, repairs during their second season, 
if in any way neglected in the winter, 
call for the resources of the purse of a 
Croesus. In matters of this kind the old 
adage which relates to a stitch in time 
should be noted by the prudent yacht 
owner. Thus it is that an engineer and 
a sufficient staff should be kept on the 
pay roll in the winter for economic 
reasons alone. By this means extrav- 
agant bills for unnecessary repairs will 
be avoided. The engineer will take 
pride in his work and do justice to a 
liberal employer. 

It is well known that engineers can 
only become acquainted with the true 
capacity of machinery by long and care- 
ful study. Statistics have proved that 
marine engines in the navy under the 
direction of good men have been run 
with less coal, less oil and greater work- 
ing power year by year when the same 
man has had control of the engine- 
room. All of which means less strain 
on the owner's bank account. 



124 BOAT SAILING. 

Lincoln's famous aphorism about the 
unwisdom of swapping horses when 
crossing a stream applies with great 
precision to skippers and engineers. 
It takes time for the most masterly and 
adroit captain to become acquainted 
with the peculiar idiosyncrasies of a 
vessel, for it is true that each one has 
her own individuality, and it takes time 
to comprehend her. In this they much 
resemble the fair sex. It is a case of 
whip and spur on one hand, and saddle 
and bridle on the other. Which is to 
wield the whip or wear the saddle is a 
question between captain and ship. 
The struggle is sometimes a long one, 
but in the end mind conquers matter. 

The captain, as in the case of Gen. 
Paine and the Mayflower^ eventually 
gets the hang of her, brings her into a 
state of submission, and compels her to 
become a cup winner. The engineer in 
his own sphere accomplishes similar re- 
sults. His machinery runs with the 
regularity of a chronometer. His own- 
er's bills for coal and oil are confined 
within reasonable limits. There are no 
breakdowns. His firemen implicitly 
obey his orders, and all goes well in en- 
gine-room and stoke-hole. 

If these few practical suggestions and 
hints prove of any service to yachts- 
men, captains and engineers, the writer 
will feel happy. He has simply touch- 
ed on the limits of a wide and fertile 
subject that might be expatiated 
upon at a large expense of paper and 
printer's ink. 



X. 

USEFUL HINTS AND RECIPES. 

TO whiten decks, mix oxalic acid 
with fresh water in the propor- 
tion of one pound to the gallon. 
Apply lightly with a mop and wash off 
immediately. 

Good elastic marine glne for paying 
seams after they are caulked, can be 
made of one part of India rubber, twelve 
parts of coal tar heated gently in a pitch 
kettle, and twenty parts of shellac added 
to the mixture. When about to use this 
preparation, dip the caulking iron, used 
to drive the oakum or cotton thread 
into the seams, in naphtha, which dis- 
solves the glue and helps to closely 
cement the seams. If oil is used instead 
of naphtha, the glue will not adhere. 
When melting marine glue for paying, 
take care to heat it very slowly. 

Mildew on sails is almost impossible 
to remove, but the stains can the ren- 
dered a little less unsightly by well 
scrubbing the sail on both sides with 
soap and fresh water, and then leaving 
the sail to dry and bleach in the sun. 
Avoid the use of chloride of lime or 
other caustics or acids, which, while 
they might take out the mildew stains, 
would certainly rot the duck. Some- 
times sails must necessarily be stowed 
when damp or wet, but they should be 



126 BOAT SAILING, 

hoisted up to dry as soon as practicable. 
Every boat should be provided with 
water-proof sail covers. 

Composition paints and other mixt- 
ures for preventing the fouling of boats' 
bottoms are plentiful as clams. Each 
one is warranted to be a specific against 
weeds and barnacles. But wooden or 
iron vessels, however treated, if left for 
any length of time at anchor anywhere 
on the Atlantic or Pacific coasts, are 
sure to become encrusted with bar- 
nacles and to be covered with such a 
rich growth of marine grasses as would 
take some particularly active work with 
a lawn mower to remove. Luckily small 
boats can easily be hauled out and 
scrubbed, but those with any pretension 
to size should most certainly be cop- 
pered. Copper in salt water will keep 
clean for a long time, the exfoliation 
being extensive. Some authorities rec- 
ommend that the copper be coated with 
one or other of the compositions pre- 
pared for that purpose, but I think that 
to leave the copper clean will be more 
satisfactory in the long run. A cop- 
pered cruising vessel should not require 
her bottom to be cleaned more than four 
times in the season, but the oftener a 
racing yacht is hauled out to have her 
copper burnished the better should be 
the result, so far as speed is concerned. 

There are several capital paints in the 
market with which to coat a yacht or 
boat below the water-line. But admi- 
rable though they may be, they are by 
no means weed or barnacle proof. 



USEFi X Il/XTS A XD RECIPES. 127 

In choosing a binocular marine glass, 
take care not to be persuaded into buy- 
ing a trashy article. A good one should 
hav^e a magnifying power of seven times, 
as well as what is known as good defini- 
tion — that is, the quality of showing all 
the outlines of an object with complete 
distinctness and without any haziness. 
To find out if a glass has this quality, 
direct it at any object clearly outlined 
against the sky — a church steeple, for 
instance. If the outlines of the object are 
indistinct, or if they are bordered with 
violet, blue, orange or red light, reject 
the glass, as it will never be worth any- 
thing. The frame of the glass should 
be rigid, or the tubes will become twisted 
and then you will see two objects in 
place of one. The more powerful a 
glass is the less field it possesses. While 
high power is desirable, it is well that 
a glass should have a large field. A 
poor glass is worse than none at all. 

That sterling seaman, Capt. S. T. S. 
Lecky, tells a capital story about a 
marine glass, which I commend to any- 
body about to purchase one. In the 
window of a shop he noticed a binocular 
with a tag on it, which asserted that the 
glass had rendered an ^^ object" visible 
at the distance of ninety miles. This 
was attested by a letter to be seen 
within. The captain's curiosity was ex- 
cited. On inquiry in the shop he found 
out that the "object" was none other 
than the peak of the Island of Tristan 
d'Acunha, in the Southern ocean, which 
is so lofty that it can be seen in clear 



128 BOAT SAILING, 

weather by the naked eye at a distance 
of one hundred miles. Therefore I 
say let your motto be caveat emptor 
when you go cruising about in search of 
either a cheap marine telescope or 
binocular among marine store dealers or 
pawnshops. Remember that clearness 
of definition is more to be sought than 
high magnifying power, as in misty 
weather the glass with the last-named 
quality in a marked degree magnifies 
the haze as well as the object, and, of 
course, makes it still more blurred and 
indistinct — a defect on which it is un- 
necessary for me to further enlarge. 

It is hard to distinguish with a low- 
priced binocular on a thick or rainy 
night the color of a vessel's lights, a 
white one sometimes appearing with a 
green or reddish tinge, and a green one 
looking like a white one. This applies 
also to lightships and lighthouses, and 
should make you careful as to your se- 
lection of a glass. 

Captain Lecky says the proper way to 
test a binocular for night use is not to 
stand at a shop door in broad daylight, 
trying how much the glass enlarges 
some distant clock-face, but to wait till 
nightfall and test it by looking up a dark 
street or passage, and if figures before 
only dimly visible to the naked eye are 
rendered tolerably clear by the aid of 
the glasses, you may rest assured you 
have hit on a suitable instrument. It 
is well to go in the first place to an 
optician, and not to a " shoptician " 
versed in cheap- jack methods. 



130 BOAT SAILING. 

Iron ballast should be coal-tarred^ 
painted, or white-washed with hot lime. 

Masts and spars should be scraped 
and sand-papered. If there are any 
cracks in them, they should be stopped 
with marine glue before scraping. Ap- 
ply a coat of wood-filler, then a coat of 
spar composition. When hard, give a 
second coat. Never apply varnish when 
there is much moisture in the atmos- 
phere. In the vicinity of New York, 
wait till the wind is northwest if you 
wish to secure the best and most bril- 
liant results. 

If your boat is white, when repaint- 
ing don't forget to mix a little blue 
with your white lead, raw linseed oil 
and dryers. This cerulean dash im- 
proves the look of the paint, and is far 
better than black, which produces a 
ghastly tint. 




SCOWING AN ANCHOR. 

When for any purpose it becomes 
necessary or desirable to anchor a small 
boat on ground known, or suspected, to 
be foul, it is advisable to scow the an- 
chor. Unbend the cable from the ring ; 
make the end fast round the crown 
shank and flukes with a clove hitch, and 
bring the end a back to i*, and stop it 
round the cable with a piece of spun- 
yarn ; take the cable back to the shackle 
and stop it as at b. When the cable is 



USEFUL HINTS AND RECIPES. 131 

hauled upon by the part o, the stop at 
b will part and the fluke of the anchor 
can be easily broken out and lifted. For 
larger vessels a trip-line is sometimes 
bent to the crown and buoyed instead 
of scowing the anchor. 

A capital composition for painting the 
bottoms of boats up to the water-line is 
made as follows : Take one pound of 
red lead, four ounces of copper bronze 
powder, the same weights of arsenic, 
chrome yellow and paris blue, one pint 
of dryers, one pint of boiled oil and one 
pint of copal varnish. Mix thoroughly, 
strain and apply. If too thick add more 
varnish. It will dry a rich copper color. 
It is neither barnacle nor weed proof, 
but is as good as some of the more ex- 
pensive paints which pretend to possess 
both these qualities. Before painting, 
scrub the wood well and smooth down 
with pumice stone. Let it thoroughly 
dry before you begin to use the brush. 

A good black paint for the outside of 
boats is made thus: To six pounds of 
best black paint add one pound of dark 
blue paint and half a pint of dryers. 
Mix with equal quantities of raw and 
boiled linseed oil until of the proper 
consistency. Stir well. vStrain carefully, 
and then add one pint of copal varnish. 

To stop cracks in a spar: When the 
spar is thoroughly dry run in marine 
glue. When the glue is hard scrape 
some of it out and stop the crevice with 
putty stained the same color as the spar. 

Iron mould and other stains can be 
removed from a deck by a solution of one 



132 BOAT SAILING. 

part of muriatic acid and three parts of 
water. 

THE LEAD LINE. 

The hand lead weighs fourteen pounds. 
The line to which it is attached is twenty- 
five fathoms long, and is marked as fol- 
lows : At two fathoms, leather with two 
ends ; at three fathoms, leather with 
three ends ; at five fathoms, white mus- 
lin ; at seven fathoms, red bunting ; at 
ten fathoms, leather with hole in it ; at 
thirteen fathoms, blue serge ; at fifteen 
fathoms, white muslin ; at seventeen 
fathoms, red bunting ; at twenty fath- 
oms, strand with tw^o knots in it. By 
the different feel of the materials used 
it is easy to distinguish the marks in the 
dark. In sounding when the boat is in 
motion, swing the lead round and heave 
it as far forward as you can. By filling 
the hollow at the base of the lead with 
grease or tallow, a sample of the bottom 
mud or sand adheres to it, which may be 
useful in verifying the position of the 
boat by comparing it w4th the chart on 
which the nature of the bottom is in- 
dicated. 

The first fathom of the hand lead line 
for use in a boat of light draught may 
be marked off in feet in any legible 
manner satisfactory to the marker. 

The inarks on the deep sea lead line 
commence with two knots at twenty 
fathoms, another knot being added for 
every ten fathoms, and a single knot at 
each intermediate five. 

A hand lead for use in a small craft 
need not be so heavy as fourteen pounds. 



XI. 
RULE OF THE ROAD AT SEA. 

THE boat sailer must possess a 
knowledge of the rule of the road 
at sea, unless he wants his sport 
brought to an untimely end by collision. 
He should become thoroughly familiar 
with the International Steering and 
Sailing Rules, so that if he encounters 
steamships, fishing craft, pilot boats, etc., 
he will be able so to maneuver his own 
vessel as to escape collision. 

The prudent skipper of a little vessel 
should always give steamships and ferry- 
boats a wide berth. Big steamships 
sometimes are slow to answer their 
helms, and often will not get out of the 
way of small craft, although compelled 
to by international law. Should your 
boat be run down by one of these mon- 
sters of the deep you, of course, have 
your remedy in a court, but you are apt 
to find litigation very expensive when 
suing a steamship company, and a suit 
often lingers for years until, having ex- 
hausted every process, it finds itself at 
last on the calendar of the Supreme 
Court of the United States. 

It is not advisable to attempt to cross 
the bows of a steamer unless you have 
plenty of room and you are a good judge 
of distances. Steam- vessels go at a 
faster rate than they seem to, and the 



134 BOAT SAILING. 

momentum of their impact is very great. 
Instead of crossing a steamer's bow go 
about on the other tack, or haul your 
foresheet to windward till she has pass- 
ed. Discretion is always the better part 
of valor. Not to monkey with ocean 
steamships or ferryboats is as valuable 
advice as that time-honored warning to 
boys not to fool with the buzz-saw. 

Do not get "rattled," whatever you 
do, but keep your eyes " skinned " and 
your head clear. 

Skippers of ferryboats often try to 
show off their smartness by steering as 
close as possible to small pleasure boats 
and then giving them the benefit of their 
wash, sometimes swamping their un- 
fortunate victims. It is fun for the fel- 
low in the ferryboat's pilot-house, but it 
is the reverse of pleasant to the man 
wallowing in the seething water. There- 
fore, do not court danger by approach- 
ing too near these unwieldy marine 
brutes, but if you are so luckless as to get 
into their wash handle your boat so that 
she shall not get into the trough of the 
waves, but take the sea on the bluff of 
the bow, where it will do the least harm. 

Navigation by daylight in fine, clear 
weather is easy, but when it is dark and 
foggy special precautions must be taken 
or collision is inevitable. I do not pro- 
pose to reprint in this little book the 
full text of the international regulations 
for preventing collisions at sea, but I 
have prepared an abstract, which will 
be sufficient for the practical purposes 
of an amateur sailor. 



RULE OF THE ROAD A T SEA. 135 

LIGHTS. 

Between sunset and sunrise the fol- 
lowing lights shall be carried by a 
steamship when under w^ay: 

At the foremast head a bright white 
light, visible on a clear night at a dis- 
tance of five miles, showing the light 
ten points on either side of the ship 
from right ahead to two points abaft 
the beam. 

On the starboard side a green light 
showing from right ahead to two points 
abaft the beam, visible at a distance of 
two miles. 

On the port side a red light similar in 
all respects, except color, to the green 
light. 

To prevent these green and red lights 
from being seen across the bow they 
must be fitted with inboard screens pro- 
jecting at least three feet forw^ard from 
the light. 

Steamships towing other vessels shall 
carry two white masthead lights in ad- 
dition to their side lights. 

Sailing vessels w^hen under way or 
being towed shall carry only the green 
and red lights as provided for steam- 
ships under w^ay. 

Small vessels that cannot carry fixed 
side lights in bad weather must have 
them on deck on their respective sides 
ready for instant exhibition on the ap- 
proach of another vessel. 

All vessels at anchor shall show where 
it can best be seen, at a height not ex- 
ceeding twenty feet above the hull, a 
white light in a globular lantern of eight 



136 BOAT SAILING, 

inches in diameter, visible all round the 
horizon at a distance of at least a mile. 

Pilot vessels shall only carry a white 
light at the masthead, visible all round 
the horizon, and shall exhibit a flare-up 
light every fifteen minutes. 

Open boats are not required to carry 
fixed sidelights, but must, in default of 
such, be provided with a lantern, having 
a green slide on one side and a red slide 
on the other, which must be properly 
shown in time to prevent collision, 
taking care that the green light shall not 
be seen on the port side nor the red 
light on the starboard side. 

Fishing and open boats, when at 
anchor or riding to their nets and sta- 
tionary, shall exhibit a bright white 
light, and may, in addition, use a flare- 
up light if deemed expedient. 

FOG SIGNALS. 

In fog, mist, or falling snow, whether 
by day or night, a steamship under way 
shall blow a prolonged blast of her 
steam whistle every two minutes, or 
oftener. A sailing vessel under way 
shall blow her foghorn (which must be 
soimded by a bellows or other mechani- 
cal device and not by mouth power) at 
intervals of not less than two minutes, 
when on the starboard tack one blast, 
when on the port tack two blasts in suc- 
cession, and when with the wind abaft 
the beam three blasts in succession. 

Vessels not under way shall ring the 
bell at intervals of not less than two 
minutes. 



RULE OF rilE ROAD AT SEA, 137 

STEERING AND SAILING RULES 
FOR SAILLNG VESSELS. 

A ship running free shall keep out of 
the way of a ship closehauled. 

A ship closehauled on the port tack 
shall keep out of the way of a ship close- 
hauled on the starboard tack. 

When both are running free with the 
wind on different sides, the ship which 
has the wind on the port side shall keep 
out of the way of the other. 

When both are running free with the 
wind on the same side, the ship which 
is to windward shall keep out of the way 
of the ship to leeward. 

A ship which has the wind aft shall 
keep out of the way of the other ship. 

FOR STEAM VESSELS. 

If two ships under steam are meeting 
end on, or nearly end on, so as to in- 
volve risk of collision, each shall alter 
her course to starboard so that each 
may pass on the port side of the other. 

If two ships under steam are crossing 
so as to involve risk of collision, the ship 
which has the other on her own star- 
board side shall keep out of the way of 
the other. 

Steamships must, in cases where there 
is risk of collision, keep out of the way 
of sailing vessels. 

A vessel, whether sail or steam, when 
overtaking another, must keep out of 
the way of the overtaken ship. 

Where by the above rules one of two 
ships is to keep out of the way, the other 
shall keep her course. 



138 BOAT SAILING. 

The following rhymes should be com- 
mitted to memory : 

When both sideHghts you see ahead, 
Port your helm and show your red ! 
Green to green or red to red, 
Perfect safety — go ahead ! 

If on the port tack you steer. 
It is your duty to keep clear 
Of every closehauled ship ahead, 
No matter whether green or red. 

But when upon your port is seen 
A stranger's starboard Hghtof green. 
There's not so much for you to do, 
For green to port keeps clear of you. 

A ship which is being overtaken by 
another shall show from her stern to 
such last-mentioned ship a white light 
or a flare-up light. This rule was only 
adopted in 1884, but 1 saw it practically 
exemplified in the ship Rajah of Cochin 
in the year 1874. The Rajah was run- 
ning down the Southeast trades one 
pitch dark night in April, homeward 
bound ; I was in charge of the deck. 
We had sLuddingsails set on both sides, 
on the mainmast and foremast. Sud- 
denly out of the darkness astern there 
loomed up the sails on the foremast of 
a big ship whose jibboom seemed to be 
right over the Rajah's stern. She car- 
ried no side lights, her skipper being 
probably of an economical turn of mind. 
I took the lighted lamp out of the bin- 
nacle, and jumping on the wheel grat- 
ings waved it as high as I could, at the 
same time yelling with all my might. I 
could hear the man on the lookout 



RULE OF THE ROAD AT SEA, 139 

aboard the pursuing vessel roar out, and 
then came a clatter and a rattle of ropes 
and a flapping- of sails as with her helm 
hard to port the ship that was pursuing 
us luffed out across our stern. She 
snapped off a few stunsail booms, but 
that was better than running us down. 
Capt. Sedgwick, who was in command 
of the Rajah, was awakened by the noise 
and came up from below in his pajamas. 
He quickly realized what a close shave 
his ship had experienced. 

BUOYS AND BEACONS. 

In approaching channels from seaward 
red buoys marked with even numbers 
will be found on the starboard side of 
the channel and must be left on the 
starboard side in passing in. Black 
buoys with odd numbers will be found 
on the port side of the channel and must 
be left on the port hand in passing in. 

Buoys with red and black horizontal 
stripes will be found on obstructions 
with channel ways on either side of 
them, and may be left on either hand. 

Buoys painted with black and white 
perpendicular stripes will be found in 
mid-channel, and must be passed close 
aboard to avoid danger. 

All other marks to buoys will be in 
addition to the foregoing and may be 
employed to mark particular spots, a 
description of which will be found in 
the printed Government lists. 

Perches, with balls, cages, etc., will, 
when placed on buoys, be at turning 
points, the color and number indicating 
on what side they shall be passed. 



XII. 
THE COMPASS. 

I HAVE no space in this volume to 
write an exhaustive chapter on navi- 
gation. It is, however, an art easily 
acquired, and may be v/holly self-taught. 
There are certain rudimentary rules for 
finding one's way at sea by dead reckon- 
ing, that everyone starting out on a 
cruise should master. The instruments 
needful are a compass, parallel rulers, 
dividers, patent log, lead line, aneroid 
barometer, clock, and the necessary 
charts of the sea which it is proposed 
to navigate. 

In a small cruiser a compass is gen- 
erally carried in a portable binnacle. 
When steering by it take care that the 
lubber's point is in a direct line with 
the keel or stem and sternpost. For the 
benefit of the uninitiated, I wall explain 
that the lubber's point is the black ver- 
tical line in the foreside of the compass 
bowl, by which the direction of the ves- 
sel's head is determined. A misplaced 
lubber's point is sure to cause grave 
errors in the course actually made. The 
compass should be as far removed as 
possible from ironwork of any kind. A 
spirit compass, as I have remarked 
elsewhere, is the only kind suitable for 
small craft. Those with cards of hard 



THE COMPASS. 



141 



enamel, floating in undiluted alcohol, 
which renders freezing impOvSsible, are 
the best. The amateur boat s ailer should 
become familiar with the compass, be 
able to box it by both points and de- 
grees, and to name its back bearings. 




The points of the compass are thirty- 
two in number, as follows : 



North South-East by E. 

North bv East South-East 
North, North-EastSouth-East bv S. 
North-East by N. South, South-E. 
North- East South by East 

North-East bv E. South 
East, North- East South bv West 
East by North South, S'outh-W. 
East South-West by S. 

East bv South South- West 
East, S'outh-East South- West by W 



West, South- W. 
West by South 
West 

West by North 
West. North West 
North- West by W. 
North -West 
North-West bv W. 
North, North- W\ 
North by West 
North 



These points are sub-divided into 
quarter points, and again into degrees. 
The table given on pages 142-143 shows 
the angles which every point and quar- 
ter point of the compass makes with the 
meridian : 



142 



BOAT SAILING, 



in 
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o 
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o 

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THE COMPASS. 



143 











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144 BOAT SAILING. 

The mariner's compass does not, how- 
ever, give the true direction of the vari- 
ous points of the horizon. The needle 
points to the magnetic North and not to 
the true North, the difference between 
them being called the variation of the 
compass, which differs widely in various 
parts of the world, being sometimes 
easterly and sometimes westerly, and 
constantly changing. The amount is 
generally marked on the charts. In 
New York the variation for 1894 is 8^ 
26' West, or three-quarters of a point to 
the West of the true. North. Thus, to 
make good a true North course, the ves- 
sel would have to steer North three- 
quarters West. A rule easy to remember 
is that westerly variation is allowed to 
the left of the compass course, or bear- 
ing, and that easterly variation is al- 
lowed to the right of the compass course 
or bearing. 

To convert true courses and bearings 
into compass courses and bearings with 
variation westerly, allow it to the right 
of the true course or bearing, and with 
variation easterly allow it to the left of 
the true course or bearing. 

Deviation is another error of the com- 
pass caused by local attraction, such as 
the ironwork and iron ballast in a boat, 
or the proximity of a marlinespike to the 
binnacle. In a wooden boat, if proper 
care is taken, there should be no appre- 
ciable deviation of the compass. Devi- 
ation can be discovered by swinging the 
boat as she lies at her moorings, having 
first obtained the true magnetic bearing 



THE COMPASS. 145 

of some distant object, such as a light- 
house or a church steeple. As the ves- 
sel's head comes to each point of the 
compass, a compass bearing is taken of 
the object, and the difference between 
that bearing and the true magnetic bear- 
ing is observed and noted, and after- 
ward tabulated. It will often be found 
that the deviation differs not only in 
amount, but in name, for different 
directions of the ship's head, being 
easterly at certain points and westerly 
at others. 

The rule is to allow westerly devi- 
ation to the left to get the correct mag- 
netic course, and easterly deviation to 
the right to get the correct magnetic 
course. 

To find out the error of the compass 
in order to steer a true course, the sinn 
of the deviation and the variation when 
both are of the same name, and their 
difference when they have different 
names, must be ascertained. For in- 
stance, deviation 20° West and variation 
25^ West, would give an error of compass 
45° W^est, which should be applied to the 
left. 

If the deviation was 20° East and the 
variation lo"" West, the difference be- 
tween them would be 10^ East, which 
compass error should be applied to the 
right to steer a true course. 

In order to find the compass course or 
course to steer, proceed as follows, the 
•true course being North 40*^ East, the va- 
riation being 38^ West and the deviation 
18° East • 



146 BOAT SAILING, 

Variation, 38° W., being of contrary 
names, take their 
difference. 

Deviation, 18° E. 



Correction, 20°, apply to the right, be- 
ing westerly. 
True course N. 40° E. 



Compass course N. 60° E. 

Another example is given where the 
variation and deviation are both east- 
erly and the true course is S., 75^ West. 

Variation, 24° W., being of same nam.e. 
Deviation, 16^ W., add together. 



Correction, 40°, apply to the left, being 
easterly. 
True course, S. 75° W. 



Compass course, S. 35° W. 

A volume might be written on the 
mariner's compass. It is a fascinating 
study, but unfortunately my space is 
limited. 

There is another correction to the 
compass that the amateur should have 
cognizance of. It is called leeway, and 
is, in untechnical language, the drift 
that the ship makes sideways through 
the water because of the force of the 
wind or the impulsive heave of the sea. 
Some craft, because of deficiency in the 
element of lateral resistance, such as in 
the case of a shallow, '' skimming-dish " 
sort of a boat, with the centerboard 
hoisted up, will go to leeward like a 
crab. Others of a different type, such 
as the '' plank-on-edge " variety, with a 
lead mine attached, will hang on to wind- 



THE COMPASS. 147 

ward in a wonderful manner. It re- 
quires, therefore, a certain amount of 
judgment as well as of knowledge in 
this particular section of nautical lore 
to be able to estimate with any degree 
of approximate certainty the leeway a 
vessel may happen to make. It should 
not be forgotten that build has much 
to do with this, and that trim and 
draught of water are also two powerful 
elements in this connection. For in- 
stance, a boat with outside lead and a 
centerboard in a strong breeze and a 
lumpy sea, so long as the wind permit- 
ted her to carry a commanding spread 
of sail, might make no appreciable lee- 
way, but, on the contrary, might '^ eat 
up " into the wind. But given the same 
boat without the lead and without the 
adventitious aid that the centerboard 
affords, she would be compelled to 
dowse her muslin at the first puff, and 
as a purely physical consequence she 
would retain no hold on the water and 
would drift off to leeward like an irre- 
sponsible she-crab. 

Thus leeway must be estimated by 
experience. It is often a most disturb- 
ing quantity, especially when the weath- 
er is foggy and the channel in which 
you are steering is perplexing on ac- 
count of rocks or shoals. I have al- 
ready expatiated on the wisdom of 
anchoring in such a contingency as this 
whenever the elements will permit. 
But, of course, one is a slave of the 
winds and the waves, and " bringing- 
up " is not always possible. I should, 



118 BOAT SAILING. 

therefore, advise the amateur to care- 
fully watch his boat and endeavor to 
find out approximately the amount of 
leeway she makes when the first reef is 
taken -in by comparing the direction of 
the fore and aft line of the boat with 
that of her wake. This method may 
also be pursued with advantage under 
all conditions of wind and weather, 
and by this means a moderately correct 
and very useful table may be made. 

The old navigators like the Drakes 
and the F'robishers had this matter ar- 
ranged for them, so when they sailed 
forth on voyages of great emprise and 
portent they were guided by certain 
tabulated formula that gave them full 
and implicit directions for the allow- 
ance of leeway. Thus the skipper of a 
ship with topgallantsails furled was told 
to allow one point ; when under double- 
reefed topsails, one point and a half ; 
when under close-reefed topsails, two 
points ; when the topsails are furled, 
three' points and a half; when the fore- 
course is furled, four points ; when under 
the mainsail only, ^\^ points ; when 
imder the balanced mizzen or mizzen 
staysail, six points ; and when under 
bare poles, seven points. 

This antiquated method of computa- 
tion answered very well, for those ster- 
ling and sturdy navigators of the olden 
times seemed to have had a rare faculty 
of achieving their adventurous purpose ~ 
and of gaining, too, both fame and for- 
tune. But the commander of a clipper 
ship, with whom I sailed as a youngster, 



THE COMPASS. 149 

undertook to demonstrate to me the ab- 
surdity of any such hard-and-fast rule. 
We had carried away our three topgal- 
lant masts, off Cape Agulhas, while 
threshing hard against a westerly gale. 
They were whipped out of us like pipe- 
stems. It took all hands a whole day to 
clear away the wreck. Next day the 
weather moderated sufficiently for us to 
have carried every stitch of canvas could 
we have set it. There were a number 
of vessels beating round the Cape, and 
all took advantage of the cessation of 
the gale to spread all their flying kites 
to the breeze. Our ship, under three 
topsails, inner and outer jibs, foresail, 
mainsail, crossjack, spanker, foretop- 
mast, maintopmast and mizzentopmast 
staysails, beat all the fleet. When it 
came on to blow again w^e w^ere the first 
to reef, because some of-our rigging had 
got badly strained in the squall that took 
our topgallantmasts away. Still we 
raaintained our lead, although jogging 
along comfortably while our opponents 
were driving at it, hugging their topgal- 
lantsails and with lee rails under. 

*^ Now," said our captain, coming on 
the poop after he had worked up his 
dead reckoning at noontime, *^you see 
all those ships dead to leeward — well 
they ought to be to windward of us 
unless all the books on navigation are 
wrong. I have entered in my traverse- 
table the courses we were supposed 
to have made good under the old rule, 
and have thus proved its falsity. The 
fact is the ships that were turned out in 



l.yj no AT SAILING. 

the days when these nautical axioms 
were first propounded were built by the 
mile and cut off in lengths to suit. 
They had no shape to speak of below 
the water-line, and perhaps the rule ap- 
plied to each alike. Times are different 
now, and leeway must be determined by 
the model of the ship." 

The rule for reckoning leeway is as 
follows : 

Wind on starboard side, allow leeway 
to the left. 

Wind on port side, allow leeway to the 
right. 

Or you may thus define it : 

Vessel on starboard tack, allow lee- 
way to the left. 

Vessel on port tack, allow leeway to 
the right. 

In this connection it might be well to 
urge the young mariner against keeping 
his boat all a-shiver and bucking 
against a head sea, and all the while 
sagging off bodily to leeward. It is bet- 
ter far to keep the wake right astern 
and keep way on the vessel — unless, of 
course, the weather is too violent. 

The direction and rate of tides and 
currents have also to be allowed for 
when correcting a compass course. 
Thus in crossing Long Island Sound 
from Larchmont to Oyster Bay in thick 
weather, the magnetic course as given 
in the Government chart would have to 
be rectified and allowance made for the 
condition of the tide, whether ebb or 
flood, or your boat might never reach 
her destination. 



XIII. 
CHARTS. 

THERE are no better charted coasts 
in the world than those bounded 
by the North Atlantic and Pacific 
Oceans. The United States Navy 
has done and is doing magnificent hydro- 
graphic work. The charts issued by the 
Government are accurate, reliable, up- 
to-date and reasonable in price. 

The top of a chart w^hen spread out 
in front of you so that the reading part 
appears to you like the page of a book, 
and you can read it from left to right, is 
the North, the bottom is the South, the 
side on your right is the East, and the 
side on your left is the West. There 
are always compasses on a chart, either 
true or magnetic, by reference to which 
and with the aid of the parallel rulers 
the bearing of one point from another 
may easily be ascertained by the fol- 
lowing method : 

Lay the edge of the rulers oyer the 
two places; then slide them (preserving 
the direction) till the edge of one ruler 
is on the center of the nearest compass; 
when this is done read off the course in- 
dicated by the direction of the ruler. 

To measure the distance between two 
places on the chart spread out the divid- 
ers till their points are over them, then 



152 BOAT SAILING. 

apply to the graduated scale at the bot- 
tom of the chart, which will give you the 
required distance. This method, it should 
be remembered, is only accurate when 
applied to the large coasting charts. 
When measuring distances on general 
charts which extend across many degrees 
of latitude, the mean latitude of the two 
places must be measured from. 

There are certain signs and abbrevia- 
tions used on charts which are easily 
comprehended, such as hrd for hard, rky 
for rocky, etc. Lighthouses and light- 
ships are clearly marked, and shoals, 
rocks and other obstructions to naviga- 
tion are plainly defined. All the mar- 
ginal notes on the charts should be 
made familiar by the navigator. I need 
scarcely say that charts, instruments 
and books of sailing instructions should 
be kept dry. There are cylindrical tin 
boxes for charts which are quite cheap, 
and these I recommend. 




A 

Fig. 6. 
The position of a vessel may be ascer- 
tained simply and accurately by cross- 
bearings. Suppose you are in a ship at 
a in Fig. 6. The point with the light- 



CHARTS. 153 

house on it bears correct magnetic N. by 
W., and the point with the tree on it E. 
by N. You lay the parallel rules over 
the compass on your chart at N, by W., 
and work them to the lig-hthoase, pre- 
serving the direction. You then draw 
the line from the lighthouse to a. You 
then lay the parallel rules over the com- 
pass on your chart at E. by N., and work 
them in a similar way to the tree. Then 
draw the line from the tree to a. The 
spot where the two lines cut was the 
vessel's position on the chart when the 
bearings were first taken. The distance 
of the ship from both lighthouse and 
tree can be measured by taking in the 
dividers the distance between either 
and the ship, and referring to the scale 
on the chart. 

It should be remembered that when 
sailing along the land cross-bearings 
will always determine your position, 
always allowing the proper corrections 
on the compass. In taking cross-bear- 
ings, try to have a difference between 
the two objects of as nearly ninety de- 
grees as possible. 

The old-fashioned log-ship and log- 
line for determining the distance run 
by a vessel is now obsolete, or nearly 
so. At any rate, it need have no place 
in the equipment of a small yacht. 
There are several patent self-register- 
ing logs which record the distance run, 
either on the taffrail or on dials on the 
log itself. Their performance is fairly 
satisfactory, but they should be kept 
well oiled, and should be often exam- 



164 



LOAT SAILING. 



ined and tested — for instance, in a run 
between two objects whose distance 
apart is well known. 

By careful attention to the Lead, the 
Log and the Look-out, a boat may be 
navigated, by dead reckoning, with a 
certain amount of accuracy. 

A nautical mile, or knot, is the same 
as a geographical mile. Its length is 
six thousand and eighty feet. A statute 
mile in the United States measures five 
thousand two hundred and eighty feet. 





XIV. 
MARLINESPIKE SEAMANSHIP. 

>VITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR MAKING SPLICES 
KNOTS AND BENDS. 

'HE ama t eui 
y ach tsm an 
should be able 
to make all the 
MARLINESPIKE. spHces and most ol 

the knots in common use. This knowl- 
edge will come in quite handy when 
fitting out his craft in the spring, and 
w411 save him the expense of hiring a 
sailor to do the work. I have spent 
many happy hours in rigging a fifteen- 
ton cutter, doing all the work myself 
(except stepping the mast) with the aid 
of a boy. 

A few fathoms of rope, a marlinespike, 
a knife, a small pot of grease, a ball of 
spun yarn, another of marline and one 
of roping twine, and you are equipped 
for work. Splicing ropes and making 
fancy knots may be made a quite pleas- 
ant way of spending a winter's evening. 
It keeps one out of mischief, and the art 
once learned is rarely forgotten. I think 
if you follow my directions and take 
heed of the diagrams that accompany 
them (which I have taken pains to 
make as clear as possible) you will have 
no difficulty in becoming quite exper' 
•n the use of a marlinespike. 



156 



BOAT SAILING, 




The ends of all ropes, 
whether belonging to 
the running or standing 
rigging, must be whip- 
ped with tarred roping 
twine or they will un- 
ravel. Take the rope in your left hand 
and lap the twine round it very tight a 
dozen times, taking care that the end lies 
under the first turns so as to secure it. 
Then r lake a loop with the twine and con- 
tinue the lapping for four turns round the 
rope and the end of the twine, as shown 
above. Haul taut and cut off the end. 

Eye Splice — Un- 
lay the rope and 
lay the strands 
E, F, G at the 
proper distance 
upon the stand- 
ing part, as 
shown at A. Now 
push the strand H through the strand 
next to it, as shown in B, having first 
opened it with a marlinespike. Strand I 
is then thrust over the part through 
which H was passed. Strand K is 
thrust through the third on the other 
side. Repeat the process with each 
strand, and then hammer the splice into 
shape with the butt of the marlinespike. 
Stretch and cut off the ends of the 
strands. If particular neatness is re- 
quired, the strands, after having been 
passed through the standing part the 
first time, should be halved and passed 
again, and then still further tapered by 
being quartered before being passed 




MARLIMCSPIKE SEAMAXSIIIP. 157 

for the third and last time. An eye 
splice is useful. Standing rigging should 
have eyes spliced in to go over the 
mast-head, and for dead-eyes to be 
turned in, etc. 




Short Splice — Unlay the ends of two 
ropes of the same size and bring their 
ends together, as shown in Fig. i. Hold 
the rope D and the strands A, B and 
C in the left hand. Pass the strand 
E over A and under C of rope H and 
haul taut. Pass strand G over B and 
under A. Pass strand F over the 
strand next to it and under the sec- 
ond. Turn the rope round and treat 
the other side in the same way, when 
the splice w411 be like Fig. 2. The single 
tucking of the strands will not, how- 
ever, be strong enough, and the process 
should be repeated on both sides, halv- 
ing the strands for the sake of neatness. 
This splice is used only for rope that is 
not required to run through a block. 




/SSS2: 



Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 

Long Splice — Unlay the ends of the 
two ropes that are to be joined some 
two or three feet, according to the size 



158 BOAT SAILING. 

of the rope. Place the two ends to- 
gether, as shown in Fig. i. Unlay strand 
C and lead it back to A ; then take D 
and lay it up in the space left by C. 
Do this with the strands E and F on the 
opposite side. The rope will now look 
like Fig. 2. Give the two middle strands, 
G and H, a lick of tar if the rope is of 
hemp, and grease if of manilla, and 
knot them together with an overhand 
knot, taking care that the knot is so 
formed as to follow the lay of the 
rope. Then halve these strands and 
pass them over one strand and tmder 
two. Treat the remaining strands in 
the same way, after which stretch the 
rope well and cut off the ends of the 
strands. A long splice is the neatest 
way there is of putting two ends of a 
rope together. If well made it does 
not increase the diameter of the rope, 
and therefore renders through blocks 
as though it did not exist. If one 
strand of a rope is chafed through 
while the other two are sound, a new 
strand may be put in to replace it, and 
the ends may be finished off in the 
same way as in a long splice. 

Cut Splice — A cut 
^^^^ splice is made the 
^^^^ same as an eye 
splice, only with 
two ropes instead of one. 

Overhand Knot — It is 
used at the ends of ropes 
to prevent them from 
unreeving. There should always be 
one in the end of the mainsheet which 




MARLINESPIKE SEAMANSHIP. 159 




is difficult to reeve again in anything 
like a breeze. 

Reef Knot — It is always 
used to tie the reef points 
of a sail. First make an 
overhand knot and then 
pass the ends so that they take the same 
lay as the crossed parts of the overhand 
knot. If passed the other way, the knot 
will form what sailors call a granny, 
which will slip when it is subjected to 
a strain. 

Bowline Knot — Take the end 
(i) of the rope in the right 
. hand and the standing part 
(2) in the left hand. Lay the 
end over the standing part 
and turn the left wrist so that 
the standing part forms a 
loop (4) enclosing the end. 
Next lead the end back of the standing 
part and above the loop, and bring the 
end down through the loop as shown. 
This is a very useful knot. 

Running Bowline — It is made 
by passing the end of a rope 
round its standing part and 
forming a bowline as in 
Fig. 8. 

Bowline on a Bight — To 
make it, double the rope and 
take the doubled end (i) in 
the right hand, the standing 
part (2) of the rope in the 
left hand. Lay the end over 
the standing part, and by 
turning the left wrist form 
a loop (3) having the end 






160 BOAT SAILING. 

inside. Next pull up enough of the end 
(r) to dip under the bight (4), bringing 
the end towards the right and dipping 
it under the bight, then passing it up to 
the left over the loop and hauling taut. 
Two Half Hitches — Pass 
the end of the rope round 
the standing part and bring 
it up through the bight. 
This makes a half hitch. Re- 
peat the process and haul 
taut. If the knot is to bear a. great 
strain, seize the end back with spunyarn 
to the standing part. 

Timber Hitch — Pass 
the end of a rope 
round the spar, then 
round the standing 
part ^, then several times round its 
own part c against the lay of the rope. 
Gaff Topsail Halyard 
Bend — Pass two turns 
round the spar, then 
lead the end back 
round the standing 
part and underneath 
all the turns, bringing 
it round to its own part and back again 
over the two outer turns and under- 
neath the inner turn. 

Blackwall Hitch — It is the 
simplest method known of 
making fast the end of a rope 
to the hook of a tackle. The 
figure is self-explanatory, the 
underneath part of the rope 
being jammed hard and fast by the 
strain on the hook. 





MARLIXESPIKE SEAMAXSHIP, 161 





CoiMMON Bend — Make a 
bight with the end of one 
rope, and pass the end of 
the other through the bight 
from beneath, and round 
both parts with the end 
under its own standing 
part. The greater the 
strain, the faster will this bend jam. 

Magnus Hitch — Pass 
two round turns with 
the end of a rope over 
a spar, then take it be- 
fore the standing part, 
pass it again under the 
spar and up through 
the bight. 

Selvagee 
S T R o p — It is 
made by driv- 
ing two nails 
into a length of plank at a distance 
apart equal to the desired length of the 
strop. Make fast one end of a ball of 
spunyarn or knotted ropeyarns to one 
of the nails and pass it round the other, 
continuing the process until the strop 
is as thick as required. Marl it down 
with spunyarn and sew canvas or leather 
round it if intended for a block. 

Grommet Strop — It is 
made of a single strand 
of rope. To make it, lay 
one end over the other 
at the size required, and 
with the long end follow the lay round 
until a ring is formed with three parts 
of the strand all round. Finish by di- 





162 



BOAT SAILING. 



viding the ends, overhand knotting, and 
passing them over one strand and under 
the other exactly as in a long splice. 
To make a neat job, use a strand from 
rope that has been some time in use 
and is well stretched. The strand should 
be about a foot more than three times 
the length of the strop, to allow for the 
knotting. It may be wormed and cov- 
ered with canvas or leather if intended 
for a block. 




Fig. 19. Fig. 20. Fig. 21. Fig. 22. 

Figs. 19 and 20 show a Wall Knot. 
Unlay the end of a rope and with the 
strand A in Fig. 19 form a bight, hold it 
down at the side B, pass the end of 
the next strand C, round A, the end of 
strand D round C and through the bight 
of A. Haul taut and the knot is made 
as in Fig. 20. This can be crowned by 
taking strand in Fig. 21 and laying it 
over the top of the knot. Then lay B 
over A, and C over B and through the 
bight of A and haul taut. Fig. 2? shows 
a double wall and double crown, which 
is made by letting the ends follow their 
own parts round until all the parts 
appear double, first walling and then 
crowning. 




MARLIXESPIKE SEAMANSHIP. 163 

Matthew Walker Knot — 
Made by unlaying- the end of 
a rope and taking the end A 
round the rope and through 
its own bight, the strand B 
underneath through the 
bight of A, and the strand 
C underneath through the bights of 
strands A and B, and hauling all the 
strands taut. This knot is used princi- 
pally for the ends of lanyards. In 
making these knots a whipping of sail- 
maker's twine should be put round the 
rope where the knot is to be when 
formed. 

This illus- 

:mXXXXITnSI5SS:2 tration shows 

the process of 
^A^ worming a 

rope, which consists of winding spun- 
yarn of suitable size into the space 
between the strands with the lay of 
the rope, so as to make the rope smooth 
for parcelling. This must be done with 
the rope on the stretch. A shows the 
spunyarn. 

This illustration 
shows the process of 
parcelling and serv- 
ing. After the 
worming is finished 
wrap narrow strips of canvas — tarred, 
if the rope is of hemp, and painted if it 
is of wire — round the rope with the lay, 
secure the parcelling to the rope by 
marling it with twine, the rope can then 
be served against the lay. Lay the 
serving mallet B with its groove on the 




164 



BOAT SAILING. 



rope. Take a turn with the'spunyarn 
round the rope and head of the mallet, 
round the side next you, and two turns 
on the other side and twist it round the 
handle. Get an assistant to pass the 
ball A round the rope while you heave 
round the mallet. The last half-dozen 
turns of the service must have the end 
of the spunyarn put through them and 
hauled taut to secure it. 




XV. 
WEATHER ** WRINKLES." 

THE boat sailer or yachtsman should 
be able, from close observation of 
the barometer and the general 
appearance of the sky, to fore- 
tell the weather with a certain degree 
of accuracy. The aneroid barometer is 
peculiarly sensitive to all atmospheric 
changes, and is thus invaluable for 
meteorological forecasts. A regular 
code of phenomena has been formulated 
by meteorologists, from which I take 
the following : 

A rapid rise indicates unsettled 
weather. 

A gradual rise indicates settled 
weather. 

A rise with dry air and cold increas- 
ing in summer indicates wind from the 
northward, and if rain has fallen better 
weather may be expected. 

A rise with moist air and a low tem- 
perature indicates a continuance of fine 
weather. 

A rapid fall indicates stormy weather. 

A rapid fall with westerly wind indi- 
cates stormy weather from northward. 

A fall with northerly wind indicates 
storm with rain and hail in summer and 
snow in winter. 



166 BOAT SAILING, 

A fall with increased moisture in 
the air and increasing heat indicates 
southerly wind and rain. 

A fall after very calm and warm 
weather indicates rain and squalls. 

The barometer rises for a northerly 
wind, including from northwest by 
north to the eastward, for dry or less 
wet weather, for less wind, or for more 
than one of these changes, except on a 
few occasions when rain, hail or snow 
comes from the northward with strong 
wind. 

The barometer falls for a southerly 
wind, including from southeast by south 
to the westward, for wet weather, for 
stronger wind, or for more than one of 
these changes, except on a few occa- 
sions, when moderate wind, with rain or 
snow, comes from the northward. 

A fall, with a south wind, precedes 
rain. 

A sudden and considerable fall, with 
the wind due west, presages a violent 
storm from the north or northwest, dur- 
ing which the glass will rise to its former 
height. 

A steady and considerable fall of the 
barometer during an east wind indicates 
a shift of wind to the southward, unless 
a heavy fall of snow or rain immediately 
follows. 

A falling barometer, with the wmd at 
north, brings bad weather ; in summer 
rain and gales; in spring snows and frosts. 

If, after a storm of wind and rain, the 
barometer remains steady at the point 
to which it had fallen, severe weather 



WEATHER " WRINKLESr 167 

may follow without a change in the 
wind. But on the rising of the barome- 
ter a change of wind may be looked for. 
The following rhymes are familiar to 
most sailors : 

When the glass falls low, 
Look out for a blow. 

First rise after low, 
Portends a stronger blow. 

When the glass is high, 
Let all your kites fly. 

Long foretold — long last ; 
Short notice — soon past. 

The following notes may be relied on 
for forecasting the weather : 

Red sky at sunset, fine weather. 

Red sky in the morning, wind or rain, and 
often both. 

Gray sky in the morning, fine weather. 

Hard, oily looking clouds, strong wind. 

Yellowish green clouds, wind and rain. 

Bright yellow sky at sunset, wind. 

Pale yellow sky at sunset, rain. 

Very clear atmosphere near the horizon is a 
sign of more wind and often rain. 

Here follow some old sailors' jingles 
which I heard when a boy in the fore- 
castle : 

When rain comes before the wind, 
Sheets and halyards you must mind ; 
When wind comes before the rain, 
Hoist your topsails up again. 

Evening red and morning gray 
Are sure signs of a fine day ; 
But evening gray and morning red, 
Makes a sailor snake his head. 



168 BOA T SAILING. 

Amateurs while on a cruise should 
frequently look at the barometer and 
take notes of its height and enter them 
in the log. 

The action of the aneroid barometer 
depends on the effect produced by the 
pressure of the atmosphere on a circu- 
lar metallic chamber partially exhausted 
of air and hermetically sealed. This 
kind of barometer is liable to changes 
on account of its mechanism getting out 
of order, and it should be often com- 
pared with a mercurial barometer, 
which from its cumbersomeness cannot 
be conveniently carried in a small craft. 
Aneroid barometers of excellent quality, 
and of about the size of an ordinary 
watch, are offered for sale at a reason- 
able price, and a cruise should not be 
undertaken without one. 

A phosphorescent sea is a certain sign 
of continuance of fine weather. 

When porpoises come into shallow 
water and ascend the river stormy 
weather is near. 

Sea birds fly far out to sea in fine 
weather, but if they fly inland bad 
weather may be expected. 

A halo round the moon, especially if 
it appears distant and yet very distinct, 
indicates a gale of wind and probably 
rain. 

When the wind changes it usually 
shifts with the sun from left to right. 
Thus an East wind shifts to West by 
way of Southeast, South and Southwest, 
and a West wind shifts to East by way 
of Northwest, North and Northeast. If 



WEATHER " WRIXKLES: 



109 



the wind shifts the opposite way it is 
said to ''back," but this it rarely does 
except in unsettled weather. 

The United States Signal Service has 
a local observer stationed at each of the 
principal ports. When the ''informa- 
tion signal," which consists of a red 
pennant, is displayed, it indicates that 
information has been received from the 
central office of a storm covering a 
limited area, dangerous only for vessels 
about to sail to certain points. Ship- 
masters and others interested will be 
supplied with the necessary information 
on application. 

A cautionary signal, which is a Yellow 
Flag with a white center, indicates that 
the winds expected are not so violent 
that well found and seaworthy vessels 
cannot encounter them without great 
danger. A cautionary flag hoisted alone 
signifies that the direction of the ex- 
pected w^ind is doubtful. 





/f-a Winds, S.W.Wind^.j^E.winds ^aiTvvir.ds. 




CAUTIONARY SIGNALS. 



A dangerous storm signal, which is a 
Red Square Flag with black center, is 
hoisted when the wind is over thirty-five 
miles an hour. 

At night a Red Light indicates East- 



170 



BOAT SAILING. 



erly winds, and a Red and White Light 
Westerly winds. 






X HlNif^i^ ^. w: wm As ^^ H. z. wrz w^i '^e. m nci« 



STORM SIGNALS. 

Following are the weather signals, 
which explain themselves: 




CLEAR OR LOCAL TEMPERATURE COLD WAVE. 

FAIR RAIN SIGNAL. 

WEATHER. OR 

SNOW. 

Beaufort's scale is used to measure 
the velocity of the wind. It is given 
below : 

Hourly Velocity 

in Miles, Scale. State, 

o calm. 

I I light airs. 

2 to 3 2 light breezes. 

4 to 7 3 gentle breeze. 

9 to 15 4 moderate breeze. 

15 to 18 5 fresh breeze. 

19 to 22 6 strong breeze. 

23 to 28 7 moderate gale. 

28 to 40 8 fresh gale. 

40 to 48 9 strong gale. 

48 to 56 10 whole gale. 

57 to 80 II storm. 

80 to 100 12 hurricane. 



XVI. 

NAUTICAL TERMS IN COMMON USE. 

Aback — A sail's condition when the 
sheet is to windward and it drives the 
vessel astern. 

Abaft — The position toward the stern 
of any object or point such as "abaft 
the mast" or "abaft the binnacle." 

Afore — The contrary of abaft. 

Ahoy ! — An interjection used in hail- 
ing- a vessel, such as " Vigilant ahoy !" 

Athwart — Across the keel. 

Atrip — When the anchor is broken 
out of the ground. 

Avast — Stop, discontinue. As " avast 
hauling " (stop hauling). 

Balance reef — A diagonal reef in a 
fore-and-aft sail extending from throat 
to clew. 

Batten down — Covering hatches with 
tarpaulins and securing them with 
battens. 

Beam ends — A vessel is said to be on 
her beam ends when knocked down by 
a squall to an angle of about 45 degrees. 

Belay — To make fast a rope or fall of 
a tackle. 

Below — Greenhorns call it "down- 
stairs " and seamen laugh at them. 

Bight — A loop of a rope. 

Bilge — The round in a vessel's tim- 
bers where they turn from her sides 
toward the keel. 



172 BOAT SAILING, 

Binnacle — A case in which the com- 
pass is contained. 

Block and block — When the blocks 
of a tackle are hauled close together. 

Bolt rope — The rope sewn round the 
edges of sails. It is made of the best 
hemp. 

Bonnet — An extra piece of canvas 
laced to the foot of a jib or foresail, 
taken off when it blows hard. 

Box the compass — To call over the 
points of the compass in correct order. 

Break off — When a vessel sailing 
close-hauled is headed by the wind and 
is unable to lay the course she was 
steering. 

Bring up — To anchor. 

Broach to — To come to against wind 
and helm. 

Capsize — To turn over. 

Carvel built — Constructed w^ith the 
planks flush edge to edge and the seams 
caulked and payed. 

Caulking — Driving oakum into the 
seams of a vessel with a mallet and a 
blunt chisel called a caulking iron. 

Clews — The lower corners of square 
sails ; the lower after-corners of fore- 
and-aft sails. 

Clinch — To fasten a rope by a half 
hitch and then seize the end back to the 
standing part. 

Close-hauled — Hauled as close to the 
wind as the sails will permit without 
shaking their luffs. A cutter-rigged 
yacht with well-cut canvas should lie 
within four and a quarter points of the 
wind. Some modern racing craft have 



Nautical Terms in Covimo7i Use. 173 

done half a point better than this. 
Square-rigged vessels cannot head 
better than five and a-half points of the 
wind. 

Collar — An eye spliced in a shroud or 
stay to go over the masthead. 

Comber — A big wave. 

Companion — The entrance from the 
deck to the cabin below. 

Compass bowl — The bowl in the bin- 
nacle that contains the compass. 

Corinthian — A term in yachting pos- 
sessing the same significance as ama- 
teur ; the opposite of prof essional. 

Counter — That part of a vessel which 
projects abaft the sternpost. 

Covering board — The outside deck 
plank fitted over the timber heads. The 
same as planksheer. 

Cracking on — Carrying a press of sail. 

Crank — Not stiff under canvas ; easily 
heeled or listed. 

Cranze or Cranse — A metal band with 
eyes on it fitted to the end of a bowsprit 
or other spar. 

Cringle — A metal thimble w^orked in 
the clews and leeches of sails. 

Dandy — A cutter-rigged vessel w4th 
lug-mizzen set on a jigger-mast. 

Davits — Iron cranes on vessels to 
which boats are hoisted. 

Deadeye — A circular wooden block 
with three holes in it without sheaves, 
through which a lanyard is rove to set 
up standing rigging. 

Dead wood — Solid wood worked on 
top of the keel forward and aft. 

Depth of hold — The height between 



174 BOAT SAILING, 

the keelson and the deck of a sii^gle- 
decked vessel. 

Displacement — The quantity of water 
displaced by a vessel, which in weight 
is always equal to her own weight. 

Dogvane — A light vane made of bunt- 
ing or feathers to show the direction of 
the wind. 

Dowse — To lower a sail suddenly. 

Down-haul — A rope by which a sail is 
hauled down. 

Draught of water — The depth of a 
vessel measured from the under side of 
the keel to the load water-line. 

Earrings — Ropes for fastening the 
corners of the heads of sails to yards and 
for reefing. 

Ease off — To slacken a rope hand- 
somely. 

Eyelet holes — Small holes worked in 
sails for lacings or lashings to be rove 
through . 

Eyes of the rigging — Collars spliced 
in the ends of shrouds to go over the 
masthead and also over the deadeyes. 

Fair leaders — Holes in planks, etc., for 
ropes to be rove through so that they 
lead fairly. 

Fair wind — A wind that permits a ves- 
sel to steer her course without tacking. 

Fall — The hauling part of the rope of 
a tackle. 

False keel — A timber bolted to the 
under side of the keel proper. 

Fathom — A sea measure of six feet. 

Fender — A species of buffer made of 
wood, rope or other material to hang 
over a vessel's side to prevent her from 



Ncuitical Terms in Com?no7i Use. 175 

chafing against a dock, or another 
vessel. 

Fid — An iron or wooden bar to keep 
bowsprits and topmasts in place ; a 
conical wooden instrument used by rig- 
gers and sailmakers. 

Fish, To — To strengthen a weak or 
repair a broken spar by lashing another 
spar or batten to it. 

Flare — To project outwards ; contrary 
to tumbling home. 

Flat aft — When sheets are trimmed as 
close as possible for effective windward 
work. 

Floors — The bottom timbers of a ves- 
sel. 

Flowing sheet — The sheet eased off to 
a fair wand. 

Flush decked — Having neither poop 
nor forecastle. 

Foot — The lower edge of a sail. 

Forereach — To sail faster through the 
water on a wind than another vessel. 

Freeboard — That part of a ship's side 
above the water. 

Full and by — To steer as close to the 
wind as possible, while at the same time 
keeping the sails full of wind. 

Futtocks — The timbers which join 
and butt above the floors, called first, 
second and third futtocks. 

Gammon iron — An iron hoop fitted 
to the side of the stem, or on top of 
the vStem, to receive and hold the bow- 
sprit. 

Garboard — The ^trake of plank next 
above the keel, into which it is rab- 
beted and bolted. 



176 BOAT SAILING. 

Gripe, To — A vessel gripes when she 
has a tendency to come up in the 
wind and requires much weather helm. 

Gudgeons — Metal straps with eyes 
secured to the stern post, into which 
the pintles of the rudder are fitted. 

Gunwale — The timber fitted over the 
timber heads and fastened to the top 
strake. 

Guys — Ropes used to steady a spar or 
other thing. 

Gybe — To let a fore-and-aft sail shift 
from one side to the other when run- 
aing before the wind. To let a vessel 
go so much off the wind as to bring the 
wind on the opposite quarter. 

Half-mast high — When a flag is hoist- 
ed halfway up as a mark of respect to a 
person recently dead. 

Halyards — Ropes for hoisting sails. 

Handsomely — Steadily ; carefully. 

Handy billy — A watch tackle kept on 
deck for getting a pull on sheets or hal- 
yards. 

Hanks — Rings or hooks for fastening 
the luffs of sails to stays. 

Hard down — The order to put the 
tiller a-lee. Hard up, the order to put 
the tiller a-weather. 

Heave to — To so trim a vessel's sails 
that she does not move ahead. 

Heel rope — The rope by which a run- 
ning bowsprit is hauled out or a top- 
mast lowered. 

Hoist — The length of the luff of a fore- 
and-aft sail. 

Horns — The projections forming the 
jaws of gaffs or booms. 



Nautical Terms i?i Co nun on Use. 177 

Hounds — The projections on a mast 
that support the lower cap and rigi^ing-. 

House — To lower a topmast down 
within the cap. 

Inhaul — The rope used to haul sails 
inboard. 

In irons — The condition of a vessel 
head to wind and with way lost, unable 
to pay off on one tack or the other. 

Irish pennants — Loose ropes flying in 
the breeze or dangling over the side. 

Jackstay — A rod of iron, a wooden 
cleating, or a wire rope for sails or yards 
to travel on ; also a wire rope on the 
main boom to which the foot of the 
sail is laced. 

Jiggermast — The mizzenmast of a 
yawl or dandy. 

Kentledge — Pig iron used as ballast. 

Lanyards — Ropes rove through dead- 
eyes by which shrouds or stays are set up. 

Leeboard — An old-fashioned contriv- 
ance to check leeway, still in use on 
some Dutch vessels and English barges. 

Load water-line — The line of flota- 
tion when a vessel is properly ballasted 
or laden. 

Luff — To come closer to the wind. 

Make fast — To belay a rope. 

Masthead — That* part of the mast 
above the hounds. 

Mast hoops — The hoops to which the 
luffs of fore and aft sails are seized to 
secure the sails to the masts. 

Miss stays. To — To fail in an attempt 
to tack. 

Mousing — A yarn wound round a hook 
to prevent it from becoming unhooked. 



178 BOAT SAILING. 

Near — Very close to the wind. 

Nip — To nip a vessel is to sail her too 
close to the wind. 

On a wind — Closehanled. 

Outhanl — A rope or tackle by which 
a sail is hauled out on a spar. 

Paddy's hurricane — A dead calm. 

Painter — A rope spliced to a ring bolt 
in the bow of a boat to make fast by. 

Pay — To pour hot pitch or marine 
glue into seams after they are caulked. 

Pintles — The metal hooks by which 
rudders are attached to the gudgeons. 

Pole mast — A mast without a top- 
mast, but with a long masthead above 
the hounds. 

Put about — To tack. 

Raff ee — A square or triangular sail set 
flying on the foretopmasts of schooners. 

Rake — To incline forward or aft from 
the vertical, as raking mast, a raking 
sternpost, etc. 

Reef band — A strip of canvas sewn 
across a sail, in which eyelet holes for 
the reef points are worked. 

Reef pendant — A strong rope with a 
Matthew Walker knot in one end. It is 
passed up through a hole in the cleat 
on the boom, and then through the reef 
cringle in the sail and down through the 
hole in the cleat on the other side of the 
boom. 

Reef points — Short lengths of rope in 
sails to tie up the part rolled up when 
reefing. 

Reeve — To pass a rope through a 
block or a hole of any kind. 



Nautical Terms in Conunon Use. 179 

Roach — The curved part of the foot 
of a sail. 

Rockered keel — A keel whose ends 
curve upward. 

Running bowsprit — A bowsprit so 
fitted as to run in or out and reef. 

Serve — To cover a rope with spun- 
yarn. 

Shake out a reef — To untie the reef 
points and set the sail. 

Sheathing- — The copper or other metal 
nailed on the bottom of a vessel. 

Sheave — The grooved wheel in a block 
or in the sheave hole of a spar over 
which the rope passes. 

Sheet — The rope by which the clew 
of a sail is secured. 

Snotter — An eye strop used to support 
the heel of a sprit. 

Spitfire jib — The smallest storm jib. 

Taunt— Tall, high. 

Taut— Tight. 

Tie up — A lubber's synonym for moor. 
You tie up a dog. You moor a vessel. 

Thimble — A heart shaped or circular 
ring with a groove outside for ropes to 
fit in. They are used for the eye splices 
in ropes, the straps of blocks and for the 
cringles in sails. 

Thwarts — The transverse seats in 
boats. 

Tumble home — When the sides of a 
vessel near the deck incline inward the 
opposite to flaring. 

Tyers — Ropes that secure a mainsail 
when stowed. 

Unbend — To cast loose a sail from 
stay, gaff, boom or yard. 



180 



BOAT SAILING. 



Veer — To pay out chain. 

Wear — To bring the wind on the other 
side of a vessel by turning her head from 
the wind. The reverse of tacking. 

Weather gauge — The condition of a 
vessel that is to windward of another. 

Weather helm — A vessel is said to 
carry weather helm when she has a ten- 
dency to fly up in the wind. 

Weathering — If one vessel eats to 
windward of another, she is said to 
weather on her. Weathering an object 
is passing it on the windward side. 

Whip, To — To bind the end of a rope 
with twine to prevent it from unlaying. 

Yaw — A vessel yaws when her head 
flies from one direction to the other; as, 
for instance, when her helmsman is un- 
able to keep her steady on her course. 

Yawl — A cutter-rigged vessel with a 
mizzenmast stepped in her counter. 




THE SLOOP YACHT. 



i8; 




THE SLOOP YACHT. 
Names of Sj>ars^ Riggi'>^S'> Sails ^ Etc. 



1 Jib Topsail. 

2 Club Topsail Sprit. 

3 Topsail Club. 

4 Club Topsail Guy. 

5 Jib. 

6 Club Topsail. 

7 ISIainsail. 

8 Bowsprit. 

9 Club Topsail Tack Line. 

10 Mainsheet. 

11 Foresail or Forestaysail 

Sheet. 

12 Jib Topsail Sheet. 

13 Topping Lift. 

14 Gaff Topsail, Clewed 

Down. 

15 Tack of Tib. 

16 Tack of Jib Topsail. 

17 Luff of Jib Topsail. 

18 Head of Jib Topsail. 



19 Jib Topsail Halyards. 

20 "Leach of Jib Tojpsail. 

21 Main Gaff. 

22 Main Boom. 

23 ]\Iain Topmast. 

24 Foot of Jib. 

25 Leach of Jib. 

26 Clew of Jib. 

27 Reef Points. 

28 Tack of ^Mainsail. 

29 Clew of Mainsail. 

30 Peak of Mainsail. 

31 Throat of ]\Iainsail. 

32 Main Crosstrees. 

33 Masthead Runner anc 

Tackle. 

34 Head of Club Topsail. 

35 Clew of Club Topsail. 

36 Tack of Club Topsail. 

37 Topmast Shrouds. 



l82 



BOAT SAILING. 




THE CUTTER YACHT. 

Names of Spars^ Sails ^ Standing and Running Riggings Etc. 
SPARS. 

5 Gaff. 



I Lowermast. 
/; Topmast. 

3 Bowsprit. 

4 Main Boom. 



9 Crosstrees. 

10 Shrouds. 

11 Topmast Shrouds. 

12 Topping Lift. 

13 Masthead Runner and 

Tackle. 

14 Forestay. 

15 Topmast Stay. 

16 Bobstay. 

17 Bobstay Fall. 

18 Spinnaker Boom Top- 

ping Lift. 



A Jib. 

B Sprit Topsail. 

C Mainsail. 



Topsail Sprit. 

7 Spinnaker Boom. 

8 Tiller. 

RIGGING AND ROPES. 

ig Spinnaker Boom Brace. 

20 Topmast Backstay. 

21 Reef Pennant. 

22 Truck. 

23 Ensign. 

24 Channels. 

25 Mainsheet. 

26 Spinnaker Boom Guy. 

27 Clev/ of Sprit Topsail. 

28 Tack of Sprit Topsail. 

29 Tack Line or Pendant. 

30 Sprit Topsail Halyards. 

SAILS. 

D Foresail. 
E Jib Topsail. 




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THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY. 

SUCCESSOR, MANUFACTURER, 

RICHnOND, VIRGINIA' 



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Canoe Supplies 

of every description* 

26 SOUTH STREET,.^* ^^jt 
NEW YORK. 

Send for Catalogue. 



(Tacht Agency 



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YACHTS-STEAM OR SAIL, 
OF ALL DESCRIPTION, 
FOR SALE or CHARTER. 

State fully what you want. C^**Modelinrr, Designing: and 
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23 State Street, New York. 



The Spalding 

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Formerly 

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Skiff, Canoe and Steam Launch Co. 




Alfred B. S^ndj & Son, 
Yacht Pluhbers, 



AND I\IA\UFAC;URERS OF 



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ALFRED B. SANDS & SON, 



134 Beekman Street, 



NEW YORK. 



S HEMMENWAY & SON, 




Copyrighted. Built by S. L. R. S. C. and S. L. C. 
iVE HAKE A SPECIALTY OF 

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Yacht Races 



FOR THE 



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By A. J. Kenealy. 



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Vigilanfs victory in iSgj and all the other exciting contests for 
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College Days 



A STORY OF STUDENT 
LIFE IN YALE. 

By JOHN SEYMOUR WOOD, 



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A STORY OF THE TURF. 

By Wenona Gilman. 




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THE OUTING PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

2}()-24\ Fifth Ave., New York. 



ESTABLISHED 1840. 



Yacht Sails 

r.iRigging* 




We make a specialty of high-class Yaclit Sails, and are 
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Aluminum blocks and hardware for the 
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Geo* B* Carpenter & Co», 

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